Reflections of the Future
by RaiderXV
Summary: Naruto is given a gift or a curse. He has seen the possible future, what will he do with said knowledge?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own not Naruto. This is a work of Fan Fiction and should be accepted as such.

This story came to me after reading Madara rant about the Senju and Uchiha. Enjoy…

Chapter 1 – Prologue…

Naruto was exhausted, having to fight one Uchiha was bad enough, but two? He was currently fighting both Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Madara. He could have defeated Sasuke fairly easily, but every time he would be ready to make a decisive blow, Madara would intervene. Not that Madara escaped harm. He had taken a couple of Rasen-shuriken. Madara had been able to avoid most of the attack, but didn't come out unscathed.

They had already captured and bound Kirabi, now they were after the last uncontained Bijuu, Kyuubi. Naruto had finally had enough, since Sasuke had killed both Sakura and Hinata, a little over a month ago, in the hopes of showing him what pain was like. Naruto had done his best not to lose control like he did before when he believed Hinata had died in the fight with Pain. The big problem was that Sasuke didn't understand that Naruto actually understood pain much better, than he ever could have ever imagined. Being alone for so long had ingrained several things into his psyche, few would befriend him, and even fewer would ever love him. Sasuke was at least loved in his early life. Naruto felt so betrayed by Sasuke, he had everything that Naruto had wanted, and even worse Naruto had learned only a few short months ago in that fateful attack on Konoha by Pain that his father was none other than Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. He knew that Sasuke was being used by Madara to get revenge on Konoha for some slight that had happened many years ago. He also knew about the Jubi and would not give his life, so that Madara could rule the world.

"So dobe, will you come along quietly or do we have to eliminate you and wait for Kyuubi to reform?" Sasuke asked, as he panted hard.

"The boy is not worth the time, let us just kill him and wait for our revenge on those who wronged us?" Madara exclaimed.

Naruto shook his head. "What about those who you've wronged?" he asked, as he turned to Sasuke and asked, "You know, Sakura really did love you and you killed her in cold blood?"

Sasuke turned his head in disgust, and said, "She was a worthless girl not worthy of becoming a kunoichi, and she couldn't even figure out that I wasn't interested in her."

"Still, she was in love with you and you killed her. All we wanted to do was bring you back to Konoha and try to get the team back together," Naruto explained.

Sasuke laughed. "You're even more naïve then I thought. Konoha killed my family, held me back, and it turned my brother against his own family," Sasuke explained.

"So you would have the Uchiha destroy the village and turn everyone that opposed them into slaves?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shrugged, and said, "Why not? We are after all Uchiha and we are the best of the best, the elite."

Naruto smirked, as his breathing steadied, and said, "The best at stealing others hard work. Your Sharingan does not allow you do anything other than steal."

"No, it is so much more than that. I can read others movements and predict what they will do, cast strong genjutsu on opponents with them, and with the Mangekyou Sharingan I can even cause a fire that lasts for seven days and nights, that can't be extinguished," Sasuke explained, with exuberance.

"So you get off on the suffering of others?" Naruto asked.

"No one will miss you if you're gone," Sasuke blandly replied.

"After all these years of being thought of as the Kyuubi, the village finally accepts me for me," Naruto explained sadly.

"You ARE the Kyuubi, nothing else can explain, your rise to power other than you're a demon," Sasuke responded with a smirk.

Naruto balled his fists in an attempt to lower his anger. "You once said I was your best friend, and because of that, I have one question. Why have you turned so evil?" he asked, as a single tear ran down his face.

Sasuke began to laugh deeply and was joined by Madara. "You think I'm evil? Just because I want to pull that demon from you, or is it because I've tried to kill you on a few occasions?" he asked jovially.

"Since your brother killed your family, what happiness have you had?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke contemplated the question, and then answered, "I guess the early times with our team were happy, but that doesn't matter now."

"You said that you wanted to kill that man, and then revive your clan. You killed Itachi, but now you're going after Konoha, why?" Naruto asked.

"They turned my brother against his own family, and had him kill them!" Sasuke angrily responded.

Naruto then pointed at Madara, and said, "He forced my father to seal the Kyuubi inside of me, along with the death of many, and you side with him? I used to respect you, Sasuke, but now…"

"Hn… like I care about your family, they were worthless before the Uchiha," Sasuke arrogantly explained.

"Worthless? My Father, Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, he wasn't worthless," Naruto replied.

"You a Namikaze, not a chance," Sasuke rebutted.

"As usual, you're blinded by your own arrogance and self loathing, Sasuke. It's all about you, always about you. Did you know at the fight in the Valley of the End, it was me that spared you?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah, right, like you could ever beat me, demon. I had you the whole time and it was I who spared you," Sasuke replied.

"You used several lethal blows, while I didn't. It is easier to kill rather than capture, Sasuke. Pull a punch here, or slice less deeply there. I thought of you like a brother, and you repaid me by trying to kill me. So, let's end this, either the Uchiha will destroy the world, or I'll save it from your evil tyranny," Naruto explained, as he returned to sage mode. "This ends our battles once and for all!"

Naruto created two clones and sent one at Madara, and the other at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged the clone only to send an Amaterasu attack at the original Naruto. He was engulfed in black flames and began to scream.

Sasuke failed to notice a hand hit him from behind, as he watched in horror, as the Naruto he had hit with attack disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sasuke flew towards Madara and was caught just after he had dispatched with the clone that was attacking him.

"We can wait a few years for the Kyuubi to reform, let's just kill him and be done with the last of the Namikaze," Madara exclaimed.

Sasuke and Madara both glared at Naruto, as a black orb appeared in front of him. Naruto jumped back in an attempt to avoid the black hole. It suddenly engulfed Naruto and he felt nothing, nothing at all.

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The Kyuubi is a beast of legends, it is said that it was so powerful that it could occasionally see into the future. It would take this information and use it to its advantage. There some limitations to this ability, one, if Kami decides that the Kyuubi will not see something then it won't. Second, even seeing the future does not mean you can avoid it, as you can't always see how something that appears bad could actually have been a good thing. Some things are just preordained, others are not. The Kyuubi being used by Uchiha Madara was preordained, as it would be controlled by both Madara and by Senju Hashirama, as they both had the ability to manipulate the spirits, also known as demons, or Bijuu.

If the Kyuubi had known that Uchiha Madara was going to use it to attack Konoha and then for it to be sealed with the child of the Fourth Hokage, it more than likely would have just avoided Madara. Why get sealed and live in the tortured soul of Naruto?

While there is no evidence of physical abuse other than what Sakura and other females, oh and the occasional store clerk, have done to Naruto, he did suffer from one of the worst forms of abuse that a child could face, neglect. Yes, while the Third Hokage did visit him, he was not truly a good role model. Naruto showed brilliance in several ways that seemed to be overlooked by others. He painted the Hokage Monument, wasn't caught doing it, not until afterwards. The boy had the mind of a shinobi, sneak in, get the job done and get away. He did eventually get caught physically by Iruka, but he was playing for attention. The boy had spoiled milk and only liked ramen. Ramen is high in salt and not very nutritious, even with added ingredients.

Let us ponder for a moment and ask: What if Naruto received these abilities, if just once? What would happen? Would he or could he change what he saw?

If Naruto of the manga became as powerful, as he appears in such a short time, then how do we explain his sage mode?

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A/N: This came to me when the origins of the Senju and the Uchiha. I'm of course taking artistic license with the story, per usual. I will have the second chapter out soon after this one is published. Don't worry Naruto isn't dead… I have more to go, this story will follow cannon, but Naruto will have prior knowledge of what might happen. I will have some chapters that are almost exactly like cannon and others that take far off tangents. I hope you enjoy my thrill ride. For those NaruSaku fans out there, sorry this isn't where you'll get that stuff, but I think you would have figured it out by now from me. We can talk all day about who she is and what she does, but in the end I have my own opinions and will not stray from them. There will be bashing of team 7 and several other characters. Oh and Haku will be female, so too bad. No this will not be a harem fic, at least at first, so either give up now or enjoy the ride. Read chapter two to see where I get my actual start for the story.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: What? Why? Own Naruto? Nope, not likely to happen at ALL…

Chapter 2 – Was it a dream?

"You'll catch cold if you sleep here," a feminine voice said to him, as he felt himself being shaken. "Wake up."

'What's going on? I thought I was dead,' Naruto thought. He opened his eyes, and saw something he thought he would never see again. He dropped the kunai in his hands and looked at the person before him. "Who are you? And what are you doing out in the woods?" he asked in a worried tone.

"I'm gathering herbs," the effeminate person answered.

"Herbs?" he asked, as he thought, 'either I'm dead or I'm back in the forest with Haku.'

The person smiled at Naruto. "Yes, I'm collecting herbs. There're for treating illness and wounds," he/she answered.

"My name's Naruto, and would you like some help gathering the herbs?" he asked kindly and smiled warmly. "You do start early, don't you oneesan?" 'That beats it, it has to be Haku,' he thought to himself, as he noticed a blush from Haku.

"I like it early, its calm and I didn't expect to find someone out here in the woods," Haku replied, as he chuckled at her response. He did so for two reasons, one he was embarrassed to be back here and second he might be able to save one of his first true friends.

"As you can tell I'm a shinobi, from Konohagakure, and was training last night. I'm sorry if I scared you," he said, as he blushed and rubbed the back of his head.

"So does that mean you're doing something dangerous?" Haku asked.

Naruto smiled and waved his hand in front of him. "No, I'm just training to sharpen my skills and get stronger," he explained.

"You already seem strong to me," Haku said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'm still fairly weak. Especially if I want to become the leader of my village, the Hokage," he explained.

"Why would you want to do that?" Haku asked.

"Originally I thought if I became the best and the strongest I would get the recognition I felt I deserved," he admitted. "I also have something to prove to a certain person."

"Are you doing all this training for that certain person or are you doing all for yourself?" Haku asked.

Naruto chuckled at the question. "Again, at first it was to prove to a certain person that I am strong, but looking back… I'm doing it more to protect those that I feel deserve it," he admitted.

"So there is someone who is precious to you, and that is why you're doing this," Haku said with a giggled and started to wear a faraway look in his/her eyes.

Naruto gave a sniff just, as he lifted his hand to his nose to rub it. He smelled the forest, but also he smelled a light perfume. "You're thinking about him aren't you?" he asked, as Haku quickly broke out of his/her spell, and a look of near fear came across Haku's face. "Your precious person, I mean, right oneesan?" He noticed Haku visibly relax, and smelled the perfume again along with another smell he had smelled before around Sakura or other females. 'That strikes it Haku's a girl,' he thought.

She smiled, nodded and replied, "Yes, that right Naruto. I was thinking of my precious person."

"And when you are protecting your precious person, you will become truly strong," he said almost automatically.

Haku nodded, as she got up to leave. Naruto grabbed her hand and moved next to her ear. "I know about Zabuza and will see you on the bridge in a day or so. Please make sure he is alright, and by the way, I know two things that will surprise you. One, you ARE a girl, and secondly, Gato is going to betray you on the bridge. I will see you tomorrow at the bridge and to prove it, I'll not be there at first, but my teammate will be there. He will be trembling with excitement and take out Zabuza's water clones. I wouldn't tell Zabuza-san of our meeting, but it should be proof enough for you when I see you tomorrow when you fight Sasuke. See you later oneesan," he said happily, as he concluded his explanation.

"Are you going to tell your teammates about this?" she asked.

Naruto smiled and released her wrist, while saying "Not a chance, Haku-chan. Not a chance."

Haku looked surprised, as she asked, "How… how do you know all this?"

"I'll explain it all tomorrow, and don't get yourself killed by Kakashi-sensei, please," he nearly pleaded.

She nodded and walked off. Naruto notice Sasuke approaching and he began to wear the happy idiot mask, as he pushed down the urge to kill him on the spot, for what he was going to do.

Sasuke finally reached Naruto and smacked him on the head.

"Hey! What you do that for?" Naruto asked.

"Idiot! Did you forget breakfast?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

Naruto snickered, as he rubbed the back of his head, and said, "Guess I lost track of time, sorry." He then pulled out a ration bar from his pouch and began to eat. "Ru row these things taste awful," he commented, as the first bite was swallowed and his speech returned to normal.

Sasuke wore a look of disgust on his face, as he replied, "Didn't anyone teach you manners?"

Naruto finished off the bar and shook his head. "Nope, didn't have anyone around to teach me those things, sorry," he replied in a resigned voice.

Sasuke smirked and actually chuckled, while he offered him his hand to help him up. "That's alright, let's finish this training," he said happily.

Naruto took his hand and smiled, as he stood and said, "Alright!"

When Sasuke turned Naruto quickly made several clones and handed them scrolls with pencils and sent them off into the woods, but one ran quickly off on a tangent course to the way Haku had left. Naruto quickly caught up to Sasuke, as they entered a clearing where they had been training before. Naruto quickly made about twenty clones and sent them off, half to train tree climbing elsewhere, a quarter to try to do water walking, and the last quarter to attempt the jutsu he learned in his 'dream', the Rasengan. He knew that the Rasengan team would soon fail, but he wanted to have them start the work for him, as he knew now that the 'Shadow Clone' jutsu would help him in his training.

Naruto continued to do the tree climbing exercise along with Sasuke, as he would occasionally grab a trail bar. 'Dang these taste just like cardboard, and I know what that tastes like,' he thought to himself. He suddenly felt a memory come over himself, as a couple of his clones had dissipated, he got their memories. Apparently his clones had been busy and found a way to keep the training going without falling and dispelling themselves. One would walk up the tree and hold position while another two would hold it up if it fell. This caused the clone to be able to attach and hold its place, while not in danger of falling. This gave slower progress, but also got the basics learned a little more quickly.

A little after noon Sakura and Kakashi appeared in the clearing. Sakura wore a surprised expression, and said, "Wow! You made it up that far?"

Naruto thought about goofing off, but the memory of possibly falling from this height and being caught by Sasuke was not one he felt he wanted. He simply walked back down the tree and smiled, while he asked, "When's lunch? I'm starving."

Naruto ducked a punch from Sakura, as she yelled, "You wouldn't be so hungry if you didn't skip breakfast!" She then realized that she had missed Naruto. "Huh? How did I miss him?" she asked quietly.

Naruto glared at her, and said, "Is that any way for an imouto to treat her niisan?"

Sakura looked at Naruto in confusion, as he had referred to her as his 'younger sister' and himself as the 'older brother'. "Naruto, are you sure you haven't been training a bit too hard?"

Naruto shook his head, and replied, "Nope, just a little tired and need some food to replenish my chakra and stamina."

Naruto suddenly collapsed from exhaustion, as some of his clones that were trying to do the Rasengan dispersed and failed miserably at it attempting the jutsu, only adding to his fatigue. He did know that he wasn't ready for that jutsu, but wanted to try to work his way up to it and later other variations.

"Loser, as usual you pushed too hard. Let's go get some lunch then we can return and put that legendary stamina to work again," Sasuke joked.

Sakura smiled warmly at the interaction. Naruto wasn't being bossy and he wasn't trying to outdo Sasuke-kun, so she was happy.

Kakashi wondered what had gotten into the boy and was wondering why Naruto was pushing so hard. 'It wasn't like Zabuza was going to be at the bridge tomorrow. Oh well, I'll let him be a kid for a little while longer,' he thought to himself.

Naruto and his team ate lunch while his team talked about their progress in this exercise. "Well I bet we'll get to the top by tonight," he boasted. 'It will prove if that dream was about the future or just a dream', he thought to himself.

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Naruto and Sasuke sat on the highest branches of their respective trees, as they had finally reached the top using chakra to get there. "Hey let's go back," Sasuke said in both a tired and jovial mood.

"Alright!" Naruto replied happily.

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The team and Tazuna's family had a quiet dinner, and went to sleep.

Naruto woke up the next morning and realized his team had left him behind. He created several clones to protect Tsunami and Inari from the samurai thugs sent by Gato. As Naruto neared the bridge he got a mental image of Inari crying happily, because Naruto's clones had saved him and his mother, and the clone had used the speech he had used in the dream. Which by all accounts began to appear to be a foretelling of the future, well sort of, since some things were changed, but only small things like Sakura being nicer to him since he called her little sister. And his chakra control was much better than it was in the dream at this point, but he had also set about to fix that.

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Naruto found his team fighting against Zabuza and Haku. Naruto looked sadly at the scene, as he knew that if he didn't interfere several people would die. He was just not sure how to save Zabuza and Haku along with his team and Tazuna. He decided to use the dream to his advantage, as he created a clone and had it throw a shuriken at Haku, just like it happened in the dream.

The clone then dropped a smoke bomb on the edge of the bridge. He wanted to test a theory, if he could influence things for the better, or at least the different. He watched, as his clone nearly got killed faking an attempt at using the 'shadow clone' jutsu by Zabuza. Kakashi berated the clone for showing off his jutsu. 'Yep, just like the dream,' he thought to himself.

He also noticed the interaction between Sasuke and the clone and began to snicker at how stupid Sasuke was for yelling at the clone, which had snuck into the ice dome with him. If he had just kept his mouth shut they could have escaped. The clone eventually got caught by Haku's superior throwing skill and turned into a cloud of smoke, to the surprise of both the people in the ice dome. Naruto had snuck by the dome and stuck an explosive tag on one of the mirrors, he made sure that Haku wasn't there when he blew it up and thus he shattered the mirror.

When the smoke cleared a clone was standing in the hole. "Hey, how's it going? You wanted a way out, right Sasuke?" he asked with a silly grin, and then winked at Haku. Sasuke was breathing heavily by this time and ran towards the hole. Haku threw several senbon only to be intercepted by the clone. Sasuke had escaped the dome and collapsed next to a pile of lumber.

'My vision is clear, I can see nearly everything,' Sasuke thought to himself. He felt a pair of hands grab him and pull him behind the pile of lumber and begin to remove the senbon, and then he felt his shirt being removed.

"Nice job teme, now let's get you patched up," Naruto said, as he finished with the senbon and began to cover the wounds caused by the senbon. "Nothing vital hit, so you should be fine in a day or two, oh and congratulations on getting your Sharingan, since you have one tomoe in one eye and two in the other."

Sasuke felt the bandages being applied to his skin and then his shirt being put back on, as he began to let his fatigue overtake him and lose consciousness.

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Naruto walked with hands raised into the dome of mirrors. "Hey Haku-chan, and I must say that you did a good job keeping teme busy. Now do you believe me that I know what is going on?" he asked quietly.

Haku walked up right in front of him, and asked, "You're not afraid that I would kill you are you?"

Naruto shook his head. "While I believe that you could kill me, it isn't in your nature. Let me be honest with you Haku. I know that Kakashi will use his Raikiri on Zabuza if we don't stop them, and you would sacrifice yourself to protect him. This in turn would lead to him attacking Gato when he turns on both of you, he will also assault your dead body, Gato that is," Naruto explained.

Haku winced at the explanation, but nodded. "You seem to understand me, but why would Zabuza attack Gato for just turning and abusing a useless tool?" she asked, turning her face away in shame.

Naruto sighed. "Look Haku-'chan', Zabuza loves you deep down, but he won't admit it unless he is confronted by the fact that you might be dead. You're more than a tool to him, he cares deeply for you. Why else would he allow you to keep your gentle ways? There are two explanations, first would be that you are a girl and we all know that a guy can't change what a girl is deep down. Second, he cares for you and doesn't want to lose all of his humanity, since you're his connection to it. Thus he loves you and what you can do for him," he explained.

Haku felt tears run down her face and pool at the bottom of her mask. 'How can this boy know so much about people who he has only just met?' she thought to herself.

Naruto offered his hand, and nodded, as Haku took it. The ice mirrors fell down behind them, as Naruto released some of Kyuubi's chakra. "And this is why we are similar Haku-chan, you were persecuted for your bloodline, and I'm persecuted because I'm the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi," he said in a sad tone.

The red chakra was frightening, both evil and menacing. Haku initially wanted to pull away, but fought the feeling, as she felt the chakra flow away from the hand that she held. 'This boy could have killed me at any time, but he is offering friendship,' she thought.

"Now Haku I need you to trust me, as I need to shock Zabuza into recognizing his feelings for you. This will hurt, but it won't be fatal. I'm also sorry if I expose any of your feminine… parts, but I need this to be convincing," Naruto explained, as he placed a clawed hand on her right chest. "Now please lie down and lay perfectly still, I will cover up anything that is exposed, and again I apologize for having to do this to you."

Haku removed her mask and smiled warmly at Naruto. "It is alright Naruto-kun, if you can save Zabuza-sama and myself from death on this bridge, then a little exposure is worth the price," she replied, as she then lay down on the bridge and waited for the pain to come.

Naruto gave a smile of apology and then placed his hand just above where he believed her nipple would be and tore the fabric from the kimono. His judgment was slightly off. Since he noticed she had small breasts for a girl of fifteen or so. Not wanting to destroy her breast he moved up higher and raked the skin deeply enough to cut the skin, but not damage the muscle beneath. Blood began to pool in the area, and Naruto wiped his hand in it and roughed up the skin some more to make the wound look like a fatal wound instead of a minor skin wound. The area of the kimono was covered in blood within moments.

Naruto then placed a couple herbs in Haku's mouth, which she quickly ate. She moved her hand to near the area and pushed a senbon in. Naruto noticed Haku visibly relax, as if the pain was gone. She removed the senbon and then she smiled at Naruto before taking a few breaths and then taking on the appearance of being dead. Naruto smiled and caressed her face, while quietly saying, "Sorry for hurting you, Haku-chan, and whatever happens don't move, as I'm going to get Zabuza to help us get rid of Gato."

Naruto then screamed and burst his chakra in such a way, as to blow the mist away from Kakashi and Zabuza. Naruto remained in his transformed state. "Zabuza! It's all, your fault!" he yelled.

Zabuza and Kakashi looked on in awe, as Naruto stood over the body of Haku with his right hand covered in blood and Haku's chest was also covered in blood.

Naruto pointed an accusatory his finger at Zabuza, and proclaimed, "Haku didn't have to die! All for what? To be betrayed by a corrupt employer who would just as soon kill you as pay you?"

Zabuza looked at Haku and his face ran through several emotions, but finally ended up on impassive. "I guess Haku wasn't a good tool after all. You're better," he said with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"He gave his life for you," Naruto said, as he approached the two with his shroud beginning to create ears and a tail. "Gato is going to betray you, I know he will. Do you want his death to be for something? I might even be able to bring him back to you."

Zabuza wore a look of surprise. There was clapping from behind them. "So this is the great 'Demon of the Mist'. Taken down by a child and a bunch of reject, heck I wasn't even going to pay you, even if you completed the job," Gato boasted, as he kicked Haku's face. "And it's too bad that this one is dead, I was hoping to get some revenge on him for breaking my arm."

Naruto threw a kunai and then did several hand seals. "'Shadow kunai clone jutsu', eat this jerk," he exclaimed, as the single kunai turned into hundreds. Gato took several, and one to the head dropping him like a brick. The other kunai hit the first ranks of the thugs that Gato had hired. "Now if any of you want to die too, just stay where you are. If not, run away and never return to Wave!"

About half of the remaining ran for the edge of the bridge while the rest took a firmer grip on their weapons, as they said, "You killed our meal ticket and we're going to take it out on you and then this village."

Naruto smirked and then repeated what he had done before, except with eight shuriken. This attack decimated the ranks, and it didn't hurt that he used slight wind chakra to make the shuriken even more deadly.

Kakashi wearily walked up to Naruto and asked, "Are you okay, Naruto? That was really cold, especially for you."

Naruto turned and smiled, as he walked towards Haku, and replied, "Yep, I'm fine Kakashi-sensei. I just don't like people like that." He them released the chakra cloak and did several hand seals he had seen Tsunade and Sakura do. His hands were covered with a fluctuating green chakra. Naruto's face grimaced, as he tried to control the healing chakra, he knew he could really do some damage with this jutsu, so all he wanted to do was to stem the blood flow. The blood slowed to trickle and then he pulled out some plant material that looked like moss and applied it to her chest. He then opened her kimono and sat her up and began to wrap her chest with some gauss he had in his pack. Naruto made sure to keep his body in the way of Kakashi's view of Haku's chest. He didn't want to expose her secret to too many people and also wanted to afford her some modesty.

He did notice Haku's blush when he pulled her kimono down past her shoulders. "Again I apologize for doing this, but I hope Zabuza will appreciate the woman that you are," he explained quietly.

He then pulled the kimono back up and resealed her kimono and made sure that she wasn't exposed in the hole he had ripped. "Thank you Naruto-kun, I will be eternally grateful for what you have done for both of us," she replied. "And thank you for keeping my secret from your team. I would hug you, but it would make Zabuza wonder if we were faking my death. I'll explain it to him later."

Zabuza knelt next to Naruto moments later. "You know her secret don't you?" he asked, as Naruto nodded. "You saved her didn't you?" Again Naruto nodded. "Thank you gaki, she is more important to me than just a tool, I just have a hard time telling her that."

Naruto smiled and replied, "Good, than she will make you a good wife later on. She is strong and loves you dearly. Treat her right and make her happy, that is all I ask. By the way, would you guys like to come to Konoha with us? I might be able to pull some strings and get you guys on the shinobi forces."

"I'm not sure, as the Mizukage might want my head for the failed coup I did," he explained.

Naruto thought for a moment. "If we fake both of your deaths then you could come and no one would be the wiser," he explained.

Zabuza nodded, and said, "We will meet you when you leave at the end of the bridge when you leave, Haku needs some rest."

Naruto nodded and created two clones they then changed into Haku and Zabuza that both wore terrible wounds and lay down on the bridge. "Kakashi-sensei could you power up a Chidori and act like you killed Zabuza?"

Kakashi approached and looked down at his student, "What are you up too, Naruto?"

Naruto looked on as Zabuza grabbed Haku and jumped off the bridge, and the mist began to clear. "I have a plan, but I need your help."

Kakashi shrugged and created a Chidori and acted, as Naruto directed. Sakura and Tazuna believed that Kakashi had killed Zabuza and Naruto had killed Haku. Naruto appeared depressed, so Sakura left him alone to tend to the injured Sasuke. Naruto created some clones and began burial detail. Inari showed up with the villager, as Naruto and his clones began to remove the dead bodies. Naruto was happy that Inari brought together the town to protect the village.

During the finishing of the bridge Naruto would leave clones to help and headed to the hideout that Zabuza and Haku used to check up on how her recovery was going. Naruto finished examining the wound, as she covered her exposed breast he explained, "You will have a scar, and I'm sorry about that. I'm not a medical ninja and have terrible chakra control. I know how to accelerate the healing, but not how to do the little things like knit a wound back together."

Haku hugged Naruto who flinched at the contact. Haku squeezed even tighter at his tensing. "That is alright Naruto-kun, since you've done more for us than we could have ever expected. Your knowledge of herbs is astounding. That moss you used, it is a rare moss that will stop bleeding and will help by leaving a smaller scar than would normally be left from a wound. Zabuza is dying his hair, so that we can join you on your trip back. Again, thank you for not exposing my secret, even if you did expose me," she playfully teased, and saw Naruto blush. Haku gasped and asked, "You like seeing my bare chest don't you?"

Naruto chuckled at the question, and replied, "You're beautiful Haku-chan, while I enjoy seeing the naked female form. I can also distinguish between professional and personal quirks. Also you're a little old for me, as I'm only twelve and hoping I might get a girlfriend when I get home."

Haku looked shocked, but then a devious grin crossed her face, and she asked, "What, I'm not good enough for you?"

Naruto grinned, since he understood that this was a trap. "No, Haku-chan, you are too good for a simpleton like me. Also, if I were to try to date you I think Zabuza-san would take offense," he said in a joking manner. He then sighed and continued, "So what is your cover for when we meet?"

"We are a married couple from of wandering shinobi attempting to avoid the bloodline purges in Water country. We heard of the Uzumaki and if you can get your name out we will join you because we knew some Uzumaki. How does that sound, gaki?" Zabuza said, as he entered the room.

"Sounds good, and she should be able to travel when we're ready to leave. I'll see you both later," Naruto said happily.

"So you like my Haku-chan's chest do you?" Zabuza asked quietly, as Naruto passed him.

"She is going to make you a wonderful wife, Zabuza-sama, as for liking it, sure, what boy who has hit puberty wouldn't like to see the bare chest of a woman? But she isn't the one I'm interested in, and it might be pleasant to see her chest, it doesn't excite me, sort of like seeing my 'Sexy jutsu' in the mirror. She is a close friend and we share some of the same pains, I respect her and love her like an older sister," Naruto explained.

"So you don't mind if we have some kids, do you?" Zabuza asked.

"If she's ready to take your relationship to that level then no, since she is in love with you and would do anything for you," Naruto replied.

"Sexy jutsu? What the hell is that?" Zabuza asked.

Naruto sighed and walked back into the room. "Haku-chan, please don't get offended, but I must show you one of my own personal jutsu, since it is used to fight against perverts," he explained, and Haku nodded. "Sexy jutsu," he exclaimed, as he changed into a girl about eighteen, blonde hair with pony tails, and well endowed, as wisps of smoke hid his nipples and crotch area.

Haku blushed at this, but regained her composure, and replied, "We should go shopping sometime Naru-chan. You do make a pretty girl, Naruto-chan."

Naruto blushed, but then both turned to see Zabuza twitching on the floor with a nose bleed. "See I told you it works on perverts," he exclaimed to Haku's giggles. Naruto released the jutsu and waved to Haku and stepped over Zabuza's twitching body.

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Kakashi stood next to the bridge and waited for his wayward student. He saw Naruto approach and sighed. "Naruto, what is going on with you? I thought to leave you alone for a few day, but I'm worried about you so easily killing Gato and his thugs," he explained.

Naruto sat down on a stump and sighed. "You know sensei, we are shinobi and I did what I had to do to protect Tazuna and the rest of the villagers, along with Haku and Zabuza," he retorted quietly.

"That's not what I mean. It's as if you killed before, and I know you haven't. You should be feeling something," Kakashi said with worry in his voice.

Naruto looked up at Kakashi and furrowed his brow. "I am, but that is the point. Everyone thinks that I'm an idiot, so I give them exactly what they expect. Tell me how many people could slip around the village and do what I did with my pranking? And yes I know that ANBU, jounin and the chuunin were ordered not to hurt me," he said.

"And your point being?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm more than people think I am. Who came up with the way to free you from Zabuza's Water Prison jutsu, in our first encounter?" Naruto asked.

"Okay, so then what true skills do you have Naruto? So I can change our training, so that our team balances out," Kakashi replied.

Naruto shrugged, and said, "Other than screwed up training from the academy, I can do a high level Transformation, Substitution, a half assed healing jutsu and the Shadow Clone jutsu. My taijutsu is lousy, and along with my chakra control being abysmal. Heck when you have as much chakra, as a Kage at my age, what do you expect? I need to do advanced chakra control training to get myself to a presentable level. I figure the Hyuuga clan can help me there."

"Any why would the Hyuuga help you with chakra control?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto held up two fingers. "Two reasons. First, I can open closed chakra points, I'm sure they would love to study that. Second, I can help their heiress become who she wants to be. I figure that would be worth the training," Naruto replied with a smile. Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and then began to ignore Naruto.

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A/N: This was chapter 2, and we are getting ready to head home to Konoha. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know I changed the cannon fight scene, but what did you expect?


	3. Chapter 3 Coming Home

Disclaimer: This is for fun and my enjoyment of writing. So Kishimoto can have his cannon storyline, because I don't own it.

Chapter 3 – Home comings…

Team seven arrived that the meeting place that Naruto had told Zabuza about and began to yell, "I Uzumaki Naruto and I'll be the greatest Hokage ever!"

Naruto smirked, as he ducked a punch from Sakura and saw two figures leave the woods. "Shut up Naruto!" Sakura yelled, as she again tried to punch him, to no avail.

The man stood before the fighting teens, and asked, "Did you say Uzumaki?"

Naruto ducked another punch and replied, "Yep, that's me. Uzumaki Naruto, who wants to know?"

The man had light short brown hair, and tired eyes. "If you're an Uzumaki then you might be able to help my wife and I. We're refugees from Mizu no Kuni and the bloodline purges. My wife has a bloodline and I'm a former shinobi with Kiri. Since you seem to be a Konoha shinobi, you might be able to get us some help and a new place to live," Zabuza said with sincerity. "My wife Haru and myself would be greatly appreciative."

Naruto put both his hands behind his head and winked at Zabuza and Haku. "Sure, I guess we can help yah," he said.

Kakashi looked at Zabuza with his one eye, and asked, "And your name would be?"

"Momochi Yukio, brother to the traitor Zabuza. He was right in one way, the Mizukage was wrong about bloodlines," Zabuza said, as he looked down at Haku with a gentle smile. "They aren't demons."

Both Sakura and Sasuke froze when they heard the name Momochi.

Kakashi smiled, and said, "I'm glad to hear that, but I must confess that I did have to kill your brother, Yukio. He left me little choice."

Haku feigned a frown at the news that Zabuza had been killed. "I'm sorry to hear that my brother-in-law is dead, but from what Yukio-kun says it may be for the best. We apologize for any troubles he may have caused you," she said sincerely.

"So you knew some Uzumaki? That's great! Tell me more," Naruto said, as he moved closer to Zabuza and Haku. Sakura and Sasuke seemed to want to keep their distance from the two new comers just in case they might attack.

The trip back to Konoha was quiet for the most part, as Naruto, Haku and Zabuza traded stories.

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The six people entered the village without much fanfare or problems. The Momochi family was allowed in as refugees and of course team seven was allowed without a word. Kakashi and Naruto stuck around with the Hokage to explain why Zabuza and Haku were in his village. Using the war in Mizu no Kuni, as an excuse to have a new bloodline family was something the village might need. Zabuza asked to adopt Naruto, since they wanted to repay Naruto for what he had done for them. When asked, Zabuza agreed not to try to become Mizukage, and gave up all allegiance to Kirigakure. Haku asked for a marriage ceremony from the Hokage to make the appearance more real. She also offered to become a doctor or nurse at the hospital.

The Hokage agreed to this, as long as the Momochi would keep their true identities secret. They readily agreed. As for the adoption of Naruto they were informed that it couldn't happen. The council had forbidden him from being adopted, while he was Hokage, they were rulers of the civilian affairs. If he wanted too he could push it through, but would lose a lot of political capital. Naruto didn't worry about it, as he said he would spend some his time off with them and they could train him.

Naruto had to admit that training with Zabuza and Haku was very taxing. Both were experienced shinobi and Haku was definitely above chuunin levels. Zabuza had asked if he wanted to learn swordsmanship, but Naruto said he had more important things to learn, like chakra control and affinity. Zabuza was impressed that Naruto took his training seriously. Haku also worked with Naruto to learn what he was missing from his academy training. She was even given a position as a chuunin medical shinobi at the hospital.

Team practice was boring, as Naruto kept on having a feeling of déjà vu. His memory of the dream haunted him. He also spent some time trying to get to know Hinata. This at first ran into a large roadblock, Neji. So Naruto figured he would get a way around it and hit the viper in the head.

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Naruto sat in Hyuuga Hiashi's office. He wore a formal kimono that Haku had helped him buy. He was there to give the head of the Hyuuga a proposition that would help them both. Twenty minutes just sitting and waiting to be addressed was pushing his limits of both his sanity and his patience, but he knew for him to succeed he would have to do this.

At thirty minutes Naruto noticed a smirk cross Hiashi's face and he finally spoke. "So Uzumaki, what do you want with the Hyuuga?" he asked, not looking up from his paperwork.

Naruto bowed and replied, "Hiashi-dono, I'm here to offer a favor and ask for one at the same time."

Hiashi looked up from his paperwork with an arched eyebrow. "What could the pariah of the village offer the Hyuuga clan?" he asked.

"I can offer to help with the heir, and help make her stronger," Naruto replied, as he smirked internally. 'This should get him,' he thought to himself.

"How do you think you could make Hinata stronger?" Hiashi asked.

"I know Hinata is strong. It's just that she has a hard time expressing it. I could help bring out her inner strength," Naruto admitted.

"Are you going to take advantage of her feelings towards you?" Hiashi asked, as his gaze turned stern.

"I'm well aware of her feelings, and do have feelings towards her, but I'm not at a point yet where I could be considered a viable suitor," he replied, but raised his hand and continued, "I understand what I carry and how people perceive me. I'm not the Kyuubi, I'm Naruto, and to protect myself I've also created an image of being an idiot. While I'll admit I'm very ignorant on many things. I do learn fast and can help your eldest daughter to learn how to control her emotions and after a while, I'm hoping to become acceptable in your eyes, as her father. I would understand if you could never see me as more than the Kyuubi, but would think less of the great Hyuuga Hiashi if he couldn't understand the difference between the jailor and the jailed."

Hiashi was surprised by this boy. He knew where he stood, but also saw a way of becoming more. Looking at the reasons he gave, he now understood what the boy was up too. While he did admit feelings for his daughter, he didn't assume that it would be enough to enter into the clan. He was offering something he could use and if Hinata improved he might have the power of the Kyuubi with his clan. "You have an interesting argument Naruto-san, but how do I know this isn't a ploy to get you into this clan and with the heir no less?" he asked.

Naruto chuckled at the question. "In a way it is to get into your clan, Hiashi-dono. I'm just trying to take the 'proper' route. Knowledge of Hinata's feelings towards me does help me in so far as getting her to allow me to help her. We both know that she has a kind heart, but I'm sure you want the best for both your daughter and for the heir of your clan. I figure that both of our goals are the same, as I want her to be happy, but also safe. She can be safe if she is strong," he admitted.

Hiashi looked at the boy before him and wondered where he had hidden all of this talent and knowledge. "Let us say for a minute that I believe you and you're being sincere. What are you looking for out of this little arrangement?" he asked, as few favors didn't come with a price and he had already said he was after a favor of his own.

"I'm looking to improve my chakra control and make a dear friend happy. If she eventually becomes something more… then it will make me even happier. If not then I will be happy for my friend that she is looked upon by her father, as a good heir. I will admit my ultimate goal would be to win her hand in marriage, but I would understand if she would be against it, since I would leave the decision up to her," Naruto replied honestly.

"I must ask you this then. What about your teammate? From what I hear you're enamored with her, and why now my daughter?" Hiashi inquired.

"It was part of an act, since I knew I couldn't even get her attention, and I knew the only relationship I could have with her would be more like a sister, since she is too far gone on my other teammate, Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto admitted, as he noticed the scowl on Hiashi's face at the mention of Sasuke. "You don't approve of my teammate do you?"

Hiashi shook his head. "No. I do not. The death of his clan left a scar on him that isn't easily repaired. I would prefer that my daughter not associate with him," Hiashi admitted.

"Training with Hinata would not take place around my team, as my sensei doesn't do more than work on our teamwork at the moment. He is also showing signs of preference towards Sasuke. This would be one-on-one training between Hinata and I. We could do it under supervision if you would like. You could even attend if you like to make sure that nothing bad or untoward happens. I know you have no reason to trust me other than my word. I have never promised to have Sakura as my girlfriend, but I've promised to become the Hokage. If I were to achieve this it would be a boon for the Hyuuga to have good relations with the Hokage. I will not ask you for Hinata's hand in marriage until I feel that I have earned your respect and asked her if she would like that. Thus you have a double barrier to anything bad happening."

Naruto sighed and then continued, "I know that she would agree right now, that is if she didn't pass out first. That is if I had actually asked her. I just want to get to know her first, I'm sure that she will find faults with me. Either she will like them or not, either way we will learn about each other. I will not try to use your daughter's feelings, as a way to garner position in the village, instead I will use her feelings, as a way to help her to grow, and if like I said she grows fonder of me... then so be it. I will leave the ultimate decision to the two of you, if either of you oppose it I will drop any attempts to woo her, and remain her friend."

"You have some merit to your arguments Naruto-san, but what reassurances do I have that you will not drive my daughter into your arms?" Hiashi continued to drive his point.

"You only have the reassurance that I don't know anything about love or relationships at this point in time. We are also both too young and as a young woman she could change her mind. I would also like your permission to tell her about my secret. This will help to clarify her feelings towards me, and see if training with her will even work," Naruto admitted. "As shinobi I will also let her know to keep the appearance of her old self to help her be able to take advantage of the belief of her being weak."

Hiashi sighed and then asked, "You've been thinking on this for a while haven't you?"

Naruto nodded to the question.

"You are good boy, even if you have caused this village some trouble," Hiashi admitted with a genuine smile.

"What fun would it be if I didn't create some trouble for people who take life too seriously?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"You're right," Hiashi replied. He then coughed and continued, "Be that as it may. I will allow this probationary training. I know my daughter will need it with the chuunin exams coming up. How many jutsu do you know and what do you know about the Hyuuga style?"

Naruto cleared his throat and replied, "I only know a few jutsu, and can't do jutsu that require a lot of control or small amounts of chakra. I know the 'Substitution', 'Transformation', and 'Shadow clone' jutsus, I'm working on a couple others and my elemental affinity of Wind."

"How do you know you're a Wind type?" Hiashi asked.

"I'm rather free, like the wind, so I guess that's why I'm a Wind user," Naruto answered quickly.

"You're not telling me everything are you?" Hiashi queried with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope, and as a good shinobi I can't reveal all my secrets, even to a possible father-in-law, or not," Naruto replied with a huge grin and a shrug of his shoulders.

Hiashi actually laughed at Naruto. "Very well, keep your secrets. Shall I call Hinata in so that we can discuss this arrangement?"

Naruto nodded. Hiashi then got up and went to the door and spoke to someone outside. He then closed the door and returned to his seat. "I'm impressed with you Naruto-san. You waited patiently for me to finish my work and didn't fuss. Given what I've heard, I would have expected you to have gone crazy, tried to force your way in here, and get me to acknowledge you immediately, but then you waited patiently and then gave very good arguments for your positions," he said in a complimentary fashion.

Naruto bowed and replied, "Thank you Hiashi-dono, I hope I can live up to your expectations."

A moment later there was a soft knock on the door and the quiet voice of Hinata could be heard from outside. "You called for me father?" she said in almost a fearful tone. Naruto gave Hiashi a sidelong glance, but didn't comment.

"Come in Hinata, as we have a few things to discuss," Hiashi replied.

Hinata saw a familiar head of blonde hair, but without his usual jumpsuit, so it took a few seconds for her to recognize Naruto. "Naruto-kun," was all she could stutter out, as she entered the room.

Naruto turned his head and smiled broadly at Hinata and showed her a cushion to sit on. She nodded, blushed and sat in front of her father. She was nearly ready to faint at being so close to her crush, as she kept on stealing glances at Naruto.

Hiashi inwardly smirked. 'If this works, I will get a stronger daughter and the Hyuuga might get control of the Kyuubi and possibly have a Hokage in the family,' he thought to himself. "Hinata we are here to discuss you and Naruto-san here," he calmly said, as he pointed with his hand towards Naruto.

"Naruto-kun and me?" Hinata stammered out, as she turned beet red and felt as if she were going to faint.

Naruto chuckled at Hinata, but then realized that he needed to fix this, as soon as possible. "Hinata. Hinata look at me," he said in a calm controlled voice. Hinata turned and looked in to his deep blue eyes. "I need to know the truth. What are your feelings towards me?"

Hinata promptly fainted.

Naruto looked confused, but moved over to Hinata and rested her head on his lap. "I guess that didn't go so well," he admitted, as Hiashi just nodded. Hiashi watched, as Naruto gently brushed her hair way from her face in a fashion of a loving person, whether sibling or lover. Naruto continued to brush her faced gently, but then looked up at Hiashi and said, "This might be harder than I thought."

Hiashi chuckled quietly at Naruto's predicament. "So shall we discuss this matter and hope she overhears it and gets the idea?"

Naruto shrugged and thought for a minute.

Hinata slowly woke, but kept her eyes closed, in an attempt to figure out what was going on. She also felt, as if she were on a pillow and was having her hair slowly brushed gently by a hand. 'Am I dreaming, did father say that he had a deal for Naruto-kun and me? It would be too much to think that he would acknowledge a relationship between us. Who am I kidding? He hasn't even shown any interest in me yet, he barely knows I even exist. Maybe I should just listen and find out what is going on, as I might of just jumped to conclusions with what father had said,' she thought, as Naruto began to speak.

"I offer training with Hinata, for training in chakra control. Along with that you can study how I can reopen my chakra points. I also want to know if Hinata cares for me," he said.

"I'm not opposed to either, but you will be watched and if you step out of line it will end immediately. If you can help her work on her confidence then it would be greatly appreciated, Naruto-san," Hiashi replied.

"Hinata is a friend, one who I care deeply for. I have only lately noticed her watching me from afar and wanted to know, if she had feelings for me. If she could also teach me about those emotions I would be forever grateful. As an orphan with no family and shunned by the village, I've had little interaction with people, and thus the reason I know that I'm a little… rough," Naruto said in a self derogatory tone.

"Family can teach quite a few things. Like how to treat those around you, or sometime not. I think you have done quite well for a child who has basically raised himself. If Hinata wants to pursue a relationship with you I'm not opposed, just yet. She is my daughter and I feel that I should protect her, but also I know that the heart follows its own course. While I'm allowing this, do not test my resolve and take it too far, as there are those within the clan along, and within the village that would see this, as you corrupting my daughter," Hiashi replied, as both males noticed Hinata stiffen at the mention of her having a relationship with Naruto.

A smile crept on her face, as she thought, 'Father doesn't oppose me seeing Naruto-kun!'

Naruto smirked and said, "Looks like our princess is awake and trying to listen in on a conversation that she should be involved in."

Hinata's eyes opened to see Naruto looking down at her and his hand playing with her hair. "Is this a dream? Because if it is, I don't want to wake up," Hinata said in a soft whisper.

Hiashi and Naruto chuckled at the comment from the quickly blushing girl. "No Hinata-chan, it isn't a dream. There are a few things we need to discuss. First I must know your feelings for me," Naruto asked in a pleading voice.

Hinata swallowed hard and tried to stifle the feeling that she was about to pass out. "I really like you Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed quickly.

Naruto smiled warmly and said, "There is more isn't there?"

Hinata nodded to his question and started her explanation. "I've been watching you since I first saw you at the academy. I'm sorry for doing that," she said with a blush, as Naruto only smiled and nodded. She then continued, "The moment that cemented the fact that I had fallen for you was the second night I saw you at the academy grounds passed out from exhaustion. I only wish I could be that strong." She then turned away, as tears formed in her eyes, nearly ready to spew forth. "I'm sorry…"

Naruto smiled and used his hand to turn her face back to his by her chin. "So you think that I'm not fallible?" he asked, as he chuckled lightly. "I'm a failure in a lot of ways, and not deserving of your affection."

Hinata immediately sat up and turned to Naruto. She took his hand in hers not even noticing her father was there any more. "No Naruto-kun, it is me who isn't deserving of you. I've never told you how I feel, even after I've witnessed how they have treated you," she said in a sorrowful voice.

Naruto smiled warmly at the girl. "Now I will tell you why they treat me that way," he said, as she looked in his eyes with surprise. He then continued, "I know you remember your lessons on how the Fourth defeated the Kyuubi nearly thirteen years ago."

Hinata nodded and then said, "Yes it was said that he called upon the god of death to kill the Kyuubi at the cost of his own life."

Naruto chuckled, but Hinata saw fear in his eyes, as he continued, "What they taught us was only partially right. The Fourth sacrificed his life, but not to kill it, since he couldn't do such a thing, to such a powerful beast. Here I should give you a demonstration." He pulled a scroll out of his kimono and drew some seals upon it he then grabbed a scroll off of Hiashi's desk. He pushed some chakra into the scroll and it disappeared.

Hinata looked at him with confusion written all over her face for a few moments until it finally dawned on her what he had done. She gasped, and whispered, "He sealed it away." She then looked at Naruto and saw him nod, as she then said, "It's in you, isn't it?" Naruto again nodded, and was suddenly embraced by the shy Hyuuga girl, as she began to cry into his chest and babble about 'how sorry she was for not being there for him earlier'.

Naruto allowed her to cry for several minutes and then got her attention. "Hinata, do you still feel the same for me as you did before?" he asked not certain what to do now.

She shook her head. "No, Naruto-kun. I admire you even more now, as you've gone through so much and done it quietly," she explained.

Naruto chuckled at this. "Well, that is the first time I've been accused of being quiet," he said, as Hiashi laughed. His tone change to a serious one as he continued, "As for your admiration growing, I'm touched. I need to know if you care about me more than as a friend."

Hinata nodded. "Yes, I've had a crush on you for a few years now, and that is the reason I've been following you around secretly. I wanted to get closer to you, and to eventually show you that someone does care for you more than just, as a friend," she explained, as she looked down and away, as if in shame.

Naruto gently hugged her and said, "I'm glad to hear that. For starters, I must tell you that I don't know what love is. I know about sex, but not love. I know now what I felt for Sakura wasn't love it was more of a wanting to be acknowledged by a girl, and thus the reasons I tried to have her go out with me so many times and failed miserably."

"Naruto-san has a proposition for you Hinata," Hiashi began to explain, as Hinata looked at her father. He saw that he had her attention and continued, "Naruto-san, needs help with chakra control and thought that our clan could offer him help, and in exchange for that help he offered to help you with both your confidence and he was hoping to make you happy. While his approach was unorthodox, I approve of him working with you to see if he could help you. If a relationship forms from this bond, I will not stop it, but you must realize that others will not approve because of what he has told you to be true. He is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and thus he has had a life of suffering. Most of our clan respected the Fourth's wishes to see him as a hero and thus the reason I do oppose this possible union. While I'm opposed to a relationship between the two of you that isn't professional, for now, since I know that it could become more than that, as you work together. Now with that out of the way, I want you to know that everything that has been discussed here is either a clan or village secret and should never be revealed to anyone outside the three of us or the Hokage himself."

"Father… so you're letting me work with Naruto-kun even if I might fall in love with him?" Hinata asked with hope shown in her eyes.

Hiashi nodded and said, "If that is how it is supposed to be, then you may fall in love with him, but I don't want others to know of any new strength that you obtain from this training, if at all possible." He then turned to Naruto and asked, "Why is it that you don't ask your sensei for more training?"

Naruto sighed, but answered, "Kakashi-sensei, while he is a genius. He's lazy and has his own time tables, but mostly he spends a majority of time working with Uchiha Sasuke. While I'm a trouble-maker, he doesn't play well with others most of the time. We mostly work on teamwork and do missions. Our teamwork on the field is great, but when we are not in a life or death struggle… it's usually touch and go. We will either fight amongst ourselves or get along, if just barely. Kakashi wants us to work as a team, not as several individuals with skills. I'll admit that Sasuke is better at both taijutsu and ninjutsu than I am, but Sakura is the one who is the knowledge base for our team. I just spam an area with clones to try to overwhelm the enemies. My stamina helps with this, but I need more control to be able to do jutsu. Because of the seal and Kyuubi I have nearly as much chakra, as a jounin or possibly the Hokage, with academy level control I'm limited to jutsu that take lots of chakra, like shadow clone jutsu." Naruto had opened his Kimono and channeled his chakra to make the seal on his stomach appear. Hinata blushed, but Hiashi visibly scowled.

"Naruto-san, you don't look that healthy," Hiashi said in an almost angry tone.

"Doesn't help when you're over charged for food and eat ramen for the most part," Naruto explained.

Hiashi raised an eyebrow and asked, "Ramen?"

Naruto closed his kimono and shrugged. "It is fairly cheap and it takes care of my energy requirements," he explained. He raised a hand and continued, "I know I'm malnourished, and wear clothing that attracts attention, but the clothing has its reasons. If I can hide and get away from shinobi ranking from chuunin to ANBU in my orange jumpsuit then I know my stealth and evasion shills are actually pretty good."

Hiashi and Hinata had to admit he did have a point. Hiding in his jumpsuit was quite an accomplishment.

There was a knock on the door. Hiashi looked up and asked, "Yes?"

"Hiashi-sama, Lord Hokage is here to see you and Naruto-san," a voice from outside replied.

"By all means show him in," Hiashi said with a raised eyebrow. He turned to the children and said, "We will not talk about this unless he brings it up. Am I clear?"

Naruto and Hinata nodded their understanding of Hiashi's orders.

Sarutobi entered and waited until the door closed behind him. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Hiashi-san. Well, hello there, Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan. What are you two up too today?" he asked in a jovial tone.

Naruto looked at Hiashi who nodded, and said, "I'm seeking help with my chakra control from the Hyuuga, and trading, helping Hinata-chan here with her own training, just like I told you."

Sarutobi nodded, as he took a seat on the side of Hiashi's desk. "Will Kakashi and Kurenai approve of this extra training?"

Naruto shrugged, but Hinata spoke up at this point. "Um… I'm not sure if she will or not, Hokage-sama," she answered stuttering along.

"Kakashi-sensei has only taught us teamwork and tree climbing. With bringing back my new friends from Wave, and the fight we had there, it struck me how we weren't ready for that mission and could have been so much better prepared for it. While Sasuke still needs to learn to work better with his team, but he's getting better, we need to have better abilities and you have to admit my chakra control really needs help and the Hyuuga can offer that to me," Naruto explained.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and asked, "Who are you and what did you do with Naruto-kun? He wouldn't have come up with something like this on his own."

Naruto chuckled and replied, "Hey old man, I can come up with things on my own without help. I learned the Shadow clone jutsu without any help in a couple hours. You know I forgot to read everything about that jutsu, but I'm figuring it out, like I get the memories of the clones when they dispel."

Hinata and Hiashi were shocked by Naruto's statement, that Naruto knew a forbidden jutsu and that it only took a couple hours to learn it.

Naruto smiled at their shock and saw Sarutobi wink at him. "So you're going to let the Hyuuga train you?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto nodded. "And I get work with Hinata-chan too," he exclaimed, as Hinata turned bright red.

"So you're going to allow him to work with your daughter, even with his problem? And how most of the village feels about him?" Sarutobi asked.

Hinata actually responded. "He's Naruto-kun, not the Kyuubi," she proclaimed with a pout on her face.

Sarutobi looked at Naruto who smiled at Hinata's proclamation. "So you told her?" he asked.

Naruto nodded and said, "I trust her with my life and wanted to make sure that she would trust me, so I told her my secret, and she told me hers."

Hinata blushed at Naruto's statement, but didn't say anything.

"I will talk to your sensei, Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan," Sarutobi said happily.

Naruto looked at Sarutobi, but fear was evident in his eyes. "No, please don't tell Kakashi-sensei. I already told him about it and worse yet, he'll ruin it by bringing teme and Sakura into this," Naruto explained.

Sarutobi looked confused, and turned to Hiashi who shared Naruto's worry. "I don't want the Uchiha boy near my daughter and Naruto is looking to only get chakra control and social interaction lessons from my daughter. Neither of his teammates will help in this, and I actually believe that the Haruno girl will not help either of them. Naruto does have a precarious hold on himself and with learning how to interact with people, I believe that the Haruno girl does not set a good example," Hiashi explained.

"Also Sakura would hit me and I want to learn, not be hit if I make a mistake. I also know more about jutsu than Sakura. I'm not a fire type like teme," Naruto said, as he saw Hiashi smirk at his constant berating of Sasuke.

"And what type, are you?" Sarutobi asked.

"I'm a Wind type. Do you know anybody that's a Wind type too?" Naruto asked innocently, as he smirked in his head.

Sarutobi looked up and smiled. "As a matter of fact my son, Asuma is a Wind user, but if you want to get some training from him you would have to clear it with Kakashi first. There is no way around that, sorry," he said in an apologetic tone.

Naruto smiled, and said, "No problem old man. I just want to get some extra training, so I can become a great shinobi. I also want to get to know someone from my class, so that I could have a chance to grow up some."

Sarutobi nodded, but also gave Hiashi a questioning look. He then excused himself and left the compound.

Naruto looked at Hinata and smiled warmly. "So we will work together after our normal team practices and then begin our work," he said happily.

Hinata nodded and saw that her father also agreed with this situation.

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A/N: I'm back to working on my other projects also, so those of you who are worried about my other stories can stop worrying. My muse is going wild and I'm getting some energy back to write my other stories, it might take some time, since chapters are not written in a day, if they are good.

To those who think that I'm blunt, great. I will be blunt some more… I'm working on getting this story working similar to cannon. So if it seems like things are almost out of the manga, you're right. I took some of the lines that will be coming up out of cannon. Of course I'm tweaking them to fit my story. The storyline will eventually diverge from cannon, but not too far, at least not initially.

For those who argue with the Haku/Zabuza pairing, sorry but that is how this story is. In cannon, Haku idolizes Zabuza in more than a master student way, so I extended on that one. It may have been only one sided, but both characters didn't last long in cannon.

Harem? I have a couple of those, heck I'm writing a harem crack fic that should keep the harem fans happy. If I do add someone to the pairing it will not be for long, such as Shion, and it will be one sided or short term relationship. The main pairing is set and there is no changing that.

Naruto has the knowledge of Sage mode, but not the experience or ability to carry it off. Just like the Rasengan, he can't use the jutsu just yet. He will be stronger than in cannon, how much stronger… I won't tell.

Saving Sasuke… that is undecided, but I'm leaning towards unredeemable. I will of course pick on team seven on occasion and there will be some time skips occasionally. The Valley of the End fight… I haven't gotten there yet, so it will be interesting. The story still has to pan out in several ways.

I hope that answered at least some of your questions. For others just wait and see.


	4. Chapter 4 On to the chuunin exams

Disclaimer: Own Naruto… nope not me…

This is a long chapter and would be hard to break up into two chapters. Don't worry… I'm working on my other stories too. I just had this chapter completed and wanted to give you guys some time to digest the other chapters. Hope you like it. And yes… some of this is almost straight out of the Manga. You will notice the slow divergence from cannon as the story continues. Well on to the story…

Chapter 4 – And on to the chuunin exams…

The next month seemed to fly by, as Naruto would spend his extra time either studying or training with Hinata. He would visit Ichiraku Ramen Shop occasionally, but also had Hinata help him buy some proper groceries. Hinata also took him to a tailor to get a new outfit, at his request. The outfit that he got was mostly black with orange and white on it.

Hinata had also grown during this month of training. She would still blush at closeness to Naruto, but the close contact of having to show him how to do advanced chakra control training, and it had finally pulled her out of her shell. Working with Haku or Haru, as she called herself also helped in gaining confidence, since she had problems with talking to Hoshio about her affections towards Naruto. Hinata and Haru became close friends and Sarutobi eventually gave Haku permission to tell Hinata their secret.

Naruto found that he really liked being around Hinata and she found that she could help him with his social etiquette problems. While Hinata grew more in love with Naruto, she sadly found out that Naruto was just learning about love and really didn't have a clue what to do or how to react. They also agreed to keep their improvements a secret from others, as much as possible. Kurenai did eventually figure it out by following Hinata after practice, but when she found that Hinata was working with Naruto on learning things that he was supposed to learn in the academy she offered to help him with his learning. She also figured out that they were having a blossoming relationship, but wanted them to take their time to help Naruto figure out how to navigate a relationship. It did help that the girl he was having a relationship with, was in love with him, was patient, and wanted it to succeed.

The next month showed more promise, as Naruto was able to do missions, annoy his teammates, and pull the wool over his sensei's eyes. Kakashi had no idea how much Naruto had improved. Naruto also introduced Hinata to the Shadow Clone Jutsu, but he warned her never to make more than one, at least until her reserves were much larger. This was done under the watchful eye of Kurenai, who was impressed with the results the two had accomplished. Naruto was also able to cut his first leaf at this point and wondered if he could find some wind jutsu to learn. Naruto found out that Konoha truly didn't have many Wind jutsu. By the end of the month he was able to pull his Wind chakra out to use it, as a way to deflect thrown objects like kunai or shuriken. Hinata was able to work on both her flexibility and started to work on a new jutsu, the Guardian Eight trigrams, Sixty-four Palms. This jutsu utilized her chakra control and making a shield with it by dragging the chakra thread around herself and cutting anything that came into the area.

Naruto tried to keep close attention to any differences that he could remember from the dream and what was actually happening. He found some very subtle differences, but nothing major. About a week before the chuunin exams were to arrive he decided that he couldn't stand it any longer and had to tell someone, just to get the stress of knowing off his mind. He setup an elaborate dinner at his apartment for him and Hinata, so that he could discuss things. He needed more input to try to figure things out. Right now he was going on autopilot and wasn't sure where he would end up or if he would screw things up.

Naruto stood waiting for Hinata in the front foyer of the Hyuuga complex. Hiashi stood with him. "So you're going to ask her on an actual date?" he asked in a hard tone.

Naruto nodded, and then said, "Hiashi-sama, I have come to like you daughter very much over the last couple months. I don't know if I'm in love just yet, but I feel very fond of her. She means the world to me right now and as my best friend she has helped me grow tremendously. I'm not the bumbling, ignorant boy who pulled pranks, like before. Thanks to your daughter I've matured some, but I figure I'll always be a kid at heart and that won't change. I also have figured that my pranks helped me with my abilities to set traps and stealth."

"I have come to like our arrangement, so far. You're work with Hinata has been phenomenal. While she still stutters around the household and around the village, I can tell it is only an act instead of how she used to be. As of this moment I see no down side to what is going on between the two of you. I appreciate that you keep your relationship very low key and don't advertise it. Until you can make a name for yourself, an overt relationship with my daughter might put her in danger," Hiashi explained.

"Because of what I am, she's in danger. There are people out there that want to take the Kyuubi away from me and use it for evil purposes. I thank you for allowing me to spend time with Hinata-chan and the chakra training. All have helped me in ways I couldn't have imagined. Hinata-chan and Kurenai-sensei have also helped fill in the gaps in my learning at the academy. We're studying for the Chuunin exams and hope our sensei will enter us. I have hopes we will make chuunin, but understand if we either aren't entered or don't get promoted, as it is hard to get promoted," Naruto said happily.

"I'm glad you're not taking your duties for granted and focusing only on your relationship with Hinata," Hiashi replied.

Naruto sighed and said, "There is still a long ways to go before I understand what love or even what I'm doing in a relationship. Hinata-chan is great. I couldn't have asked for someone better to care for me. She is kind, patient and beautiful." Hinata was standing around the corner and blushed profusely at Naruto's statement.

"Just remember that she is my daughter and I will not stand for you taking advantage of her," Hiashi said in a harsh voice.

"You can count on me, Hiashi-sama. I'll treat her right. I really do care for her and don't want to hurt her. We're also young and I want to have a girlfriend who will eventually become my wife, not hurt her and find someone else," Naruto admitted.

"You have little to worry about that Naruto-kun, since we continue to work on both of ourselves. As time has passed, I'm even surer that I picked the right boy to give my love too," Hinata said, as she rounded the corner. "We must leave now father, since some elders and Neji-neesan is coming this way."

Hiashi nodded and closed the door behind the two and acted as if he were taking a walk around the complex. He greeted the elders and Neji, as they passed by him continuing their conversation.

Naruto and Hinata changed their appearance with a Transformation jutsu and headed to his apartment. They didn't say anything the entire trip. Naruto opened the door and allowed Hinata to enter the room first. After taking off their sandals and removing their 'transformation' jutsu, they sat at the table and waited for Naruto to apply a privacy seal on the room.

"Thank you Naruto-kun, you're kind and that is one of the reasons I love you," Hinata said with a blush.

Naruto smiled shyly and began to put the food on the table for them to eat. A Shadow Clone then acted as waiter for the couple. Naruto took a deep breath and then sighed heavily. "Hinata-chan…" he said, but didn't continue.

Hinata noticed him looking down at the food and not really eating, so she asked, "What's wrong Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked up at her and his eyes looked conflicted, but he said, "I don't know how to say this…"

Hinata's heart stopped, as she thought 'What is going on? Is he going to stop seeing me? Please no. I love him too much to let that happen.' "Please Naruto-kun, I'll do anything, but please don't leave me," she said with horror written on her face and her eyes ready to burst into tears.

Naruto stood up and moved to hug her. "No, Hinata-chan. I'm not leaving you. I just have, so much to explain and don't know where to start. I really like what we have and want it to go further, I actually think I want to spend the rest of my life with you, that is if you'll have me," he said in a dejected tone.

Hinata looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity in his eyes, but still asked, "Really? Do you mean it?"

Naruto nodded and said, "Yes, Hinata-chan. I do. I want to be with you forever." He gently squeezed the girl in his arms only to feel her squeeze him an iron grip. "Hinata-chan… air…" he said in a pained voice.

Hinata realize how hard she was squeezing him and lessened the pressure, but refused to let go. "Sorry Naruto-kun," she said quietly.

"That's alright Hinata-hime. I need to tell you something that is on my mind and our relationship isn't what has me frustrated," he explained.

"I'm sorry I doubted you Naruto-kun. What is it that is troubling you?" She asked, as she released him.

He sat down and put his hand on the table which she quickly took. "I had a dream a while back and several things in it have come true. I used this dream to change a few things and I've also tried not to change too many things," he explained, much to the confusion of Hinata.

Naruto then began to explain the mission to Wave where he met Haku and Zabuza, and then went into detail about the dream. Hinata listened intently, as he told the story of his dream and how things happened to him over the supposed next several years. He told her of Sasuke's betrayal, the adventures that Naruto went on like retrieving Tsunade to become the Fifth Hokage, his fights with Gaara, Sasuke, Akatsuki and several others including Madara. He tried not to leave out a single detail, even revealing the fact that he met his father, the Fourth Hokage inside the seal with the Fox and her actual confession of love during his fight with Pain.

While Hinata had a few questions she was amazed at the details and how current history was only slightly off from his dream. She understood that if he hadn't approached her father it would have taken several years for her to actually admit her feelings for Naruto. She wondered then why he would actually want to pursue her instead of working on Sakura, so she asked, "Why did you choose me instead of Sakura-san?"

Naruto chuckled, as he ate some of his cooling dinner. "I told you how she treated me in the dream and how my feelings were towards her," he said and she nodded. His face then grimaced and he continued, "I thought about how the two of you treated me over time. While you shied away from me, she pushed my advances away. It was not as bad near the end, but I kept coming back to the fact that she would hit me if I did something wrong. I didn't like that. You later on would treat me how I always wanted to be treated, with kindness and love. As I told you I never got to choose in the dream, since Sasuke killed you both when I was going to tell you who I had chosen. While part of me ached for Sakura, the rest of me wanted you, since I felt more heartache with the idea of your death than Sakura's. You see, you're the one I wanted, because I knew that you loved me. Even if the dream was only a dream then I still stand by my choice of you Hinata-chan."

Naruto noticed her trembling and shaking, as he saw tears stream from her eyes. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you Hinata-chan," he exclaimed.

She shook her head, and asked, "Why did it take you so long to decide? In the dream that is…"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, and said, "I was an idiot and I don't want to be an idiot now. Your feelings for me are pure, and mine are almost, as strong as yours. I feel like I've known you for a lifetime, even if it has only been a few years and I've gotten to know you closely for only a couple of months. I know I care more about you than anyone I've cared about anyone for as long as I can remember. If not wanting to lose you for any reason is love, then I love you. If the pain in my chest is any indication of what it feels like when you're not near, then my heart aches for you to be near me."

Hinata dove over the table tackling Naruto. She straddled him, as tear fell upon his face. He smiled meekly in the hopes that she wasn't angry. She bent down and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him gently on the lips. As the kiss deepened he felt something inside grow. His heart felt warm, as he wrapped his arms around her. The breathing became intense, as neither wanted to relinquish the kiss, but both needed air, so they breathed hard through their noses. It almost sounded like animals rutting. After what seemed like forever they finally broke and panted, since they needed to catch their breaths.

Naruto smiled warmly into her pale eyes, as he asked, "So you forgive this idiot for taking a lifetime to get to know you and find out that he loves you?"

Hinata nodded, as she kissed him again, this time the kiss was shorter, but their lips parted slowly. "What do we do now, Naruto-kun?" she asked, as her eyes were nearly exploding with tears of joy.

"Well since I have an idea on what the future is, but don't know which things I can change and which I can't. We should try to get stronger and learn as much, as we can. I don't want to change the future too much, so that we can avoid the bad things that are to come," he explained.

"But with you telling me of your vision, haven't you already changed the future and with the Momochi also?" she asked not wanting to surrender her position on him just yet.

Naruto thought for a minute. "There have been some changes, but so far they are all minor. As far as I can figure, if we change something it can have a significant effect or have little to none at all. If I were to warn Jiji about the invasion on the village during the last part of the chuunin exams, we might not get the chance to participate at all, thus the invasion might be lessened or worsened by such information. Say I was to tell everyone that the Fourth was my father, how many would believe me and how many would want me imprisoned? Not to mention what would Iwa do with this information?" he asked in a serious tone.

"You're thinking too much into it Naruto-kun. We have each other and my father's approval," she said happily.

Naruto gently put both hands on her cheeks and lowered her head into a kiss. When he broke it, he asked, "Can I beat a jounin?" She shook her head, and he continued, "So why give out that information right now? If we use it to help us avoid bad things then we can use it for the better. I was able to use what I learned from the vision to save Haku and Zabuza, and most importantly find love with you."

Hinata shifted and lay down on his chest, but then asked, "But if we can't be together, why did you let me know about all of this?"

"Like I said before, thanks to the dream I have begun to understand love, and I'm in love with you. Sakura was an infatuation, or crush. You're real, you care for me and I care for you. Our training together has proven that. Also I'm worried if we go into the chuunin exams and have to fight Neji, he really wanted to kill you because of the seal. In the vision I made a blood oath to avenge you, I wouldn't do that lightly, Hinata-chan," he explained.

"This all so much to take in at once," she said in a bewildered voice.

"Imagine how it was for me when I woke up and was dealing with Haku-chan?" he said, as he brushed her hair with his hand.

She nodded, but didn't move. Naruto figured she was still assimilating the information, as it was a lot to take in. He had taken a few hours to explain what were a few years of vision, not an easy task. After a few minutes she sat up, much to Naruto's discomfort. She had grinded herself against his crotch and he couldn't help but elicit a moan of pleasure. She smiled and did it again only to turn bright red and bite her lip, as Naruto noticed her own eyes betray her own pleasure at what she had done.

Naruto smiled and then said, "I think we should get back to the table before…"

He was interrupted by a clone, when it said, "Get a room you two. Hey there is one that way…" The clone pointed to Naruto's bed room.

Naruto and Hinata blushed at the implications and both stood up quickly, with her helping Naruto stand. Naruto knew both weren't ready for the relationship to move to that level and he still had too many enemies to worry about. The rest of the evening was given over to discussing the vision and going into more detail about it. Naruto found that Hinata would prod him for information and he would recall more information than he thought he could. He did notice her get annoyed on several occasions with some of the things he had done in the visions. For instance she was now weary of Haruna of Vegetable country, since she feared that she might want to take Naruto away from her. She was outright angry at Naruto agreeing to help progress the line of priestess from Demon country.

Naruto had assured her that if it came to that he would only allow it if she agreed and for helping out Shion who didn't appear to have anyone else. She said she would mill it over. She definitely wanted to rescue Isaribi from Orochimaru, and they discussed the implications of killing Sasuke at the Valley of the End. She feared that Naruto would likely be killed by Sasuke and she would die of loneliness, just as she had found the boy of her dreams. Naruto chuckled, but understood her concerns.

By the time they had finished desert it was nearly two in the morning. "So Hime, what do we do now?" he asked.

"I guess I stay here, as it would be inappropriate for me to show up in these clothes at this hour. Could you send a clone to inform father?" she asked, with a glint in her eye.

Naruto looked at her with a questioning look. "Okay, but we can't play around, since we both have missions tomorrow and will need to be up early to get you back and changed for your mission," he explained, as he created a clone and sent it to the Hyuuga residence.

"Can I use one of your shirts for a nighty?" she asked.

Naruto nodded and pointed to an old dresser in the bedroom. She moved quickly to the bedroom and discarded her dress right in front of Naruto's eyes. Naruto studied the silhouette and then snapped his fingers. Hinata jumped, as she turned holding the shirt to her chest with a questioning look. She stood only in her panties and the shirt covering only her breasts, and not very well. "You… you were the girl at the waterfall. You're so beautiful, even in silhouette," he said, as she gasped, turned red and then dropped the shirt. Naruto unprepared for this promptly fainted at the sight of a bare-chested Hinata in only panties.

Hinata quickly grabbed the shirt and put it on. She then dragged Naruto to the bed and undressed him, like she had done in so many of her dreams. She was a little angry at his state of malnourishment, but thought that they had addressed and would continue to address it. As she hung the kimonos in the closet she saw Naruto wake up suddenly. "Did I just see you in the…" he asked, as she nodded. He immediately put his hands over his head and begged for his life, "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be a pervert!"

Naruto calmed when a hand was placed on his bare shoulder. He peered through his arms to see a red, but smiling Hinata. "It wasn't your fault Naruto-kun, but I'm glad you find me attractive. Around the Hyuuga my figure is considered somewhat unattractive," she admitted with a forlorn look.

Naruto lifted her chin and kissed her gently. "You're beautiful and will only get more so, Hinata-chan," he said with all the conviction in the world. "Oh, your father said he will have your stuff ready at six in the morning for you so that you can miss the guard change and slip in unnoticed."

Hinata smiled, as she crawled into bed with Naruto. "We can't do anything tonight, but then again we have our whole lives to do this," she said, as she snuggled up to Naruto, and he set the alarm so that they could make it to the Hyuuga compound at six in the morning.

Naruto slept like he had never had, and so did Hinata.

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She didn't like it, but also knew that Naruto was keeping up appearances of his crush on Sakura to a point. Naruto did his best to not show off his blossoming abilities to anyone other than Hinata, Hiashi and Kurenai. Kiba and Naruto became better friends, as he seemed to start to spend more time with either Konohamaru and his friends or Team Eight. Shino became a friend of Naruto when he pointed out a rare bug to him and thus earned the respect of the Aburame.

Naruto made very sure not to outclass Sasuke at any time during missions or training. Kakashi did ask him how his taijutsu was improving without working on style. Naruto explained that he was taking time to work with others to try to get his taijutsu up to snuff, as this appeared to make Kakashi happy, since he didn't seem to push the issue.

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Two days before the chuunin exams were to begin Naruto made sure to keep an eye out for Konohamaru and his friends, since he knew it might be trouble. After a quick mission and almost getting into a fight with Sasuke, Naruto got a chuckle at Sakura trying to get a date from Sasuke, but Sasuke did have a point about her needing to improve herself. He then smirked as Konohamaru and his gang tried to sneak up on him disguised, as square rock with eye holes in the front.

The scene played out like it had in his dreams, more by his trying to not change things rather than any other reason. Finally Sakura came up on the conversation. "A ninja playing ninja? That is so lame…" Sakura said. 'My skills are worse than his? Who are we kidding?' she thought to herself.

Naruto knew what coming next, but wanted to see if it would play out again. "Hey boss… who is that girl anyways? Is she your girlfriend?" Konohamaru asked with a sly grin.

"What?" Sakura yelled.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and replied, "You could tell that she's really crazy about me couldn't you?"

"What!" Sakura yelled, as she drew back and slugged Naruto. He turned his head slightly to cushion the blow, but was still thrown into the fence.

"What type of girlfriend are you?" Konohamaru asked, as he surveyed the quivering body of Naruto.

Hinata from behind the fence was rather angry with the treatment of her Naruto by Sakura, but understood why Naruto took the hit. 'We shall see if you improve Sakura-teme,' she thought, as she continued to watch with her Byakugan. She then smiled, as she heard Konohamaru yell at Sakura.

"You're a witch and you're ugly too!" Konohamaru yelled, as he shook his fist at Sakura.

Sakura cracked her knuckles and moved towards Konohamaru slowly. She then slammed her fist into his head.

"Are you alright Konohamaru?" Udon asked.

Konohamaru and Naruto stood, as Konohamaru said, "I don't even think she's human. I mean look at her forehead!"

Sakura turned with an evil look upon her face and then ran at the foursome. The group began to run and rounded a corner. Konohamaru ran into something.

"You little shit! That hurt!" a voice asked.

Naruto looked up to see Kankuro and Temari standing in the street. Kankuro reached down and lifted Konohamaru by the front of his shirt. "Does this hurt?"

"Put him down Kankuro or you know you'll pay for it later," Temari said in a worried tone.

"I'm sorry, we were sort of messing around," Sakura said meekly.

Naruto growled at Kankuro, but then said, "I have two reasons for you to let him go."

Kankuro smiled and asked, "And what would those be weakling?"

Naruto walked forward and pointed at Konohamaru, "He's the grandson of the Hokage," he then pointed to the tree beside the road, "and he won't be happy."

A rock suddenly hit Kankuro's wrist and he let go of Konohamaru. He then looked up into the tree, as he paled at the sight of Gaara standing upside down on the tree limb behind Sasuke. "Gaara?" he asked quietly.

"What are you doing in our village?" Sasuke asked, as he gently tossed a rock into the air and caught it. He then proceeded to crush the rock.

Naruto watched Temari blush at the sight of Sasuke. He just rolled his eyes and thought, 'He must just be eye candy for girls.'

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura purred out, as both she and Moegi had hearts in their eyes. Naruto again rolled his eyes at the females of the species.

"Kankuro stop, you're an embarrassment to our village, and did you forget the mission?" Gaara asked.

Kankuro backed away from the Naruto and crew, and said, "But they started it…"

Gaara looked at Sasuke and said, "Sorry about this." He then disappeared in a swirl of sand. He then reappeared in between Temari and Kankuro.

"What are you doing here? I can tell from your headbands that you're from Suna. You may be allies of the Leaf, but it is forbidden to be in each other's village without permission. Depending on your answer we may not be able to let you go," Sakura said angrily.

Naruto smirked, and said, "You're here for the chuunin exams aren't you?"

Temari smiled and then said, "You're smarter than you look, but you're right." Naruto smiled, as Temari winked at Naruto, Hinata became angry, but quickly simmered down, since Naruto didn't even respond.

Sasuke jumped down and yelled at Gaara, "Hey, what's your name?"

Temari turned and smiled at Sasuke, she then asked, "You mean me?"

Sasuke scowled, shook his head, and said, "The one with the gourd on his back."

"Gaara of the Dessert," he replied, but then asked, "I was also interested in you your name."

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke," he said, as Sakura blushed and Naruto rolled his eyes, but then looked up into the tree and saw the Sound genin team.

Gaara and his team vanished from sight, as did the Sound team. Naruto smirked, and headed to the park to play with Hinata, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon.

The rest of the day was spent playing with the kids. Naruto later told Hinata that she might get mad at him for what he was planning to do, but assured her it would not affect their relationship. She trusted him now with her life and purity, so she figured he was up to something and that had to keep it secret. Naruto then escorted Hinata home, only to have a meeting with Hiashi. They quickly established that Naruto was on his best behavior with Hinata the night before, but he did see her in an inappropriate manner. While Hiashi was unnerved, he wasn't angry, as he had the betrothal papers all ready to go at a moment's notice.

--------

Naruto chuckled, as he approached the bridge. This was going to be a silly argument between the two of them if it played out right. Naruto approached, he had spent extra time talking Hinata to her team's meeting. Hinata's team was happy to see Naruto and asked if Naruto was treating Hinata right. Naruto spent the next hour reassuring them that he was being a gentleman with her.

Sakura began her rant. "Hey! How can this be allowed? Why does he tell us to be someplace and then make us wait?" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Naruto snickered then yelled, "Yeah! Sakura-chan is right!"

"What about the feelings of a young girl who overslept and didn't have time to blow dry her hair?" she yelled.

Naruto decided to lie and play along. "Yeah, I overslept too! So I didn't wash my face or brush my teeth! See!" he yelled, as he then blew his open mouth at Sakura.

"Ew! That is disgusting! Wait your breath smells minty fresh," she exclaimed in confusion.

Naruto laughed at her confusion, but Naruto watched at Sasuke wore a look of utter annoyance. This warmed Naruto's heart.

"Yo! I got lost on the road of life," Kakashi exclaimed from on top of the archway at the end of the bridge.

"Liar! Now apologize!" Sakura yelled.

Kakashi looked at Naruto in confusion, as if waiting for him to complain. "What? I want an actual explanation. If it's good then I will forgive him," he said, but then his face turned into a maniacal grin. He then continued, "If not it will be my turn to use the 'Thousand Years of Death' jutsu on you, sensei."

Kakashi's eye went wide for an instant, but then returned to normal. "This is sudden, but I happened to have nominated you for the chuunin selection exams," he explained. He then handed out the exam applications and said, "Here are your applications."

Naruto grinned evilly and then jumped onto Kakashi. "That's perfect Kakashi-sensei!" he exclaimed.

"Stop it, let go, Naruto!" Kakashi exclaimed, as Naruto let him go. He then continued, "Just understand this is only just a nomination. Whether you take the exam is up to each of you individually. Those of you that want to take it should sign the application and be at the academy to turn it in at room 301, by 4pm tomorrow. That's it, have fun." Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The trio walked through the archways away from the bridge. Naruto kept his mouth shut, as he remembered what happened in the vision. He also turned and looked at Sakura only to see her look very depressed. He kept it to himself, but hoped she would get over it, since he knew they all needed to go to get entrance to the exams.

Naruto spent a little time playing recover the child with Iruka, since he was acting like a foreign shinobi, and abducting Moegi. Naruto recovered her easily. Naruto and Hinata met up later that day and talked about what they were going to do in the chuunin exams. He informed her not to worry about him if he couldn't answer any questions, since it wouldn't matter anyways. She then kissed him passionately, as a good luck charm.

He then traveled to the teahouse to meet with Sakura and Sasuke. He played dumb about signing the application in a way to help bring Sakura out of her doldrums.

The group finally made it to the academy and found it full of foreign shinobi. A smile graced Naruto's face, as he watched the scene play out between Lee's team and the chuunin guards trying to fool the chuunin hopefuls. Naruto sighed, since he knew what was coming.

"Let us pass and drop the genjutsu. We're going to the third floor," Sasuke proclaimed.

"So you noticed," Izumo in a younger form said.

Naruto rolled his eyes at what happened next. Sasuke actually praised Sakura, much to her surprise.

"Sakura, you must have noticed it first right?" Sasuke asked.

"Huh?" Sakura quietly asked.

"You have the best analytical and genjutsu skills on our team, so I'm sure you saw right through it," Sasuke said.

Sakura blushed and then became very confident. "Of course I noticed, because this is the second floor," she exclaimed.

Naruto watched, as his improved vision was able to follow Kotetsu attempt to attack Sasuke, only for Lee stop both of their attacks without any effort.

Neji and Tenten shook their heads and Neji asked, "What happened to the plan? You're the one who said we shouldn't show our strength."

Naruto smiled at what came next. Lee approached Sakura and said, "I'm Rock Lee and yours is Sakura. Will you be my girlfriend? I'll die to protect you!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, and said, "No way! You're a loser!"

Lee looked crushed, but Neji found a way to liven up the conversation. "Hey you, what is your name?"

Naruto scowled at yet another girl blushing, since she looked at Sasuke, Tenten was the guilty party this time. 'Oh well, I'm glad I have Hinata-chan,' he thought, as he got ready for the pissing contest between Neji and Sasuke.

"You should give your name first if you want to know someone else's," Sasuke explained.

"You're rookie of the year, right? How old are you?" Neji asked.

Sasuke smirked and replied, "I don't have to answer to you."

Naruto chuckled at the two boys. All the while thinking, 'Pissing into the wind will still get you wet and covered in urine.'

-------

Naruto knew what was coming next, so he just faked indifference. 'Sorry Bushy Brow, but Sasuke needs to learn some of your taijutsu to get Oro-teme to give him a love kiss,' he thought to himself, as he chuckled at Rock Lee challenging Sasuke. The fight if you could call it that lasted no more than a minute, since Naruto decided to not interfere. He did get a good laugh out of Lee trying to seduce Sakura most unsuccessfully. After Lee knocked Sasuke for a loop and Sakura saved him from splattering on the floor. He turned around to miss the scene of Gai and Lee hugging to a sunset background.

Naruto and the team hurried up to the exam room, Sasuke a little worse for wear. They met up with Kakashi, where he told them about the having to be a team to enter the first part of the exam. Naruto was thankful for the 'vision', in so far as it gave him insight he wouldn't have and would have made a fool of himself.

Sasuke was immediately glommed onto by Ino, which caused a fight between Sakura and Ino. Shikamaru complained about their actions, and Naruto couldn't fault him for his complaint. Ino was loud and obnoxious, sort of like he was a lot of the time. 'Hey if the shoe fits…' he thought, as he did some self incrimination. He greeted Team Eight and blushed at the sight of Hinata, who in turn blushed back.

Naruto waited for Kabuto to show and as if on cue he started to complain about the noise of the rookie genin. He had to agree even if he wasn't the one making all the commotion. Naruto watched carefully, as Kabuto followed the vision nearly perfectly. After giving information on Rock Lee and Gaara, he warned the rookies about how hard the test was going to be.

Naruto knew that he was beginning to shake, but it was with anticipation. Sakura attempted to console him, but found out that he was not scared when he yelled, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm not going to lose to any of you! You got that?"

Sasuke smirked at the statement while Sakura just thought Naruto was an idiot. Ino questioned his sanity, but Hinata smiled warmly at his proclamation.

Naruto ducked under the attempted sleeper hold and endured the proclamation from Sakura that he was an idiot. Naruto and Hinata watched carefully, as the Sound trio attacked Kabuto. Hinata nodded after the attack, that she had seen what was going on with the attack. Naruto and Sakura consoled Kabuto, Naruto in an attempt to curry favor with the spy, and Sakura in a show of compassion. Ibiki and his chuunin examiners showed up. Naruto was able to pick up number fifty-three, while Hinata got fifty-four, so they sat next to each other.

Naruto watched, as it sunk into Hinata that his vision was of the future. He waited for Ibiki to finish his explanation of the rules before he looked at the test. He found the same questions, as he remembered in the vision, so he filled them out much to the surprise of his teammates, who watched in awe, as Naruto completed the test. Naruto stuck his tongue out at one of the examiners, who just smiled back at him. He noticed Hinata finish. They both turned their papers over and then waited for the next thirty minutes for the final question to be asked.

Naruto sat back, as Ibiki asked the final question. After several including Kiba questioned the legitimacy of Ibiki banning genin from ever becoming chuunin. Naruto kept an eye on Hinata for the moment that he might need to reinforce Sakura's belief in herself and Naruto. The hands started to go up like there was no tomorrow and then he saw the nod from Hinata. He raised his hand and then slammed it down on the table. "Don't underestimate me! I won't run or hide! I'll take your damn question! Even if it means I'll be a genin forever! I will become Hokage anyways, so I don't care! I'm not afraid of you!" he proclaimed.

This had stopped the teams from leaving and left seventy-eight individuals, or twenty-six teams. Naruto, Hinata and Ibiki were the only ones not surprised when Anko burst through the window and announced her presence. Naruto smiled warmly at the banner, which read 'I'm Mitarashi Anko, your second examiner!' Anko surveyed the room and saw the look on Naruto's face and was taken aback. She quickly corrected her slip and complained to Ibiki for being too easy on the genin. Naruto laughed at the interchange, but only lightly. She ordered the remaining genin to follow her to the next place for the exams, practice area 44, also known as, 'The Forest of Death'.

"You'll soon find out why it's call the 'Forest of Death," Anko said in a menacing tone.

Naruto decided to follow the vision so that he could do what was needed. "'You'll soon find out why it's called the 'Forest of Death'," he said in a sarcastic tone.

"You have spunk," Anko said, as she threw a kunai and nicked Naruto's face. She reappeared right behind Naruto and began to lick the cut. She then said, "Kids like you are the first to die… spraying that red blood I so love."

Naruto slipped his hand under Anko's skirt, over her fishnet pants and into her panties, leaving a note he had prepared earlier. He did notice the blush on Anko's face, as he did accidently brush against the fur under her panties. He then quickly pulled his hand from there and moved it up to cut on his face. Suddenly a long tongue appeared with the missing kunai that she had flung. Anko put aside that this little twerp had put his hands not only up her skirt, but into her panties. But seeing as he didn't do anything, like try to feel her up or anything of the like, she would try to forgive him. She shifted and felt paper rub against her inside her panties, as she began to address the Grass genin. 'So the twerp left me a something, I'll read it first then kill him later,' she thought to herself.

"You know it isn't nice to sneak up on someone like that, genin," she said loudly.

"My apologies proctor, but I thought that I would return your kunai," the Grass genin said, as Anko took it from her tongue.

She went on to explain the rules surrounding the exam. Namely that they had to sign a waiver for possible deaths and that they would have to gather a complete set of scrolls. One they were to be given one and they had to acquire a second one from another team. The teams gathered, handed in their forms, got their scroll and then moved to their assigned gates and the teams entered the forest.

Anko walked into the shack and put her hand under her skirt and removed the note from her panties. She noted that it was on stationary and folded quite intricately. She then opened it and noticed the smell of dangos emanating from the note. She began to read.

_Dear Anko-oneesan,_

_Sorry for slipping this into your intimates, but I had no other real options, and want to apologize for it yet again. I would like you to give the note sealed at the bottom of this note to the old man Hokage. I trust you and respect you like an older sister, and figured that with you cutting me, it would be easier to slip this to you below the waistline rather than during your explanation at the beginning of the exams. The Grass genin that gave you back your kunai is a fake and you can find the bodies of the real ones near the cemetery. I would send someone to check this out other than yourself and send the second message to the Hokage, as soon as possible. Now before you freak out, read what I have to say and then get to work. Orochimaru was the Grass genin in disguise. He killed the Grass genin, so that he could put a curse seal on my teammate Sasuke, since he wants the Sharingan. Now if you want to go after him take some help, more than likely an ANBU or twelve, since he is a Sannin and even with the Kyuubi I can't take him on. Heck the old man would be hard pressed to take him down. He has perfected his immortality jutsu, so he will know more than he did before in odd ways, that is. _

_Please be careful and don't go after him alone. I worry about the other pariah of Konoha. Again, please don't take him on alone. If you do meet him he will say not to stop the exam, I tend to agree, since it will lead to other things that we are not ready for. Oh and for defiling your panties I'm going to treat you to some dango later. Again sorry for this, but I couldn't think of another way to get the note to you without attracting unwanted attention or ruining my chances of becoming a chuunin._

_Your otouto,_

_Uzumaki Naruto_

Anko was beside herself. Here was a gaki in the chuunin exams who had done what several of the male population of Konoha would have loved to do, get into her panties, and what did he do? He left a warning note and the strange part was that it had information in it that he shouldn't have known until after he went in to the forest. She quickly pulled up her skirt to and pulled out her panties to make sure the kid didn't leave anything else there. After verifying that nothing was there, she opened the seal and called a trio of chuunin over and sent them off do things for her. The first was to give the Hokage the letter from Naruto, the second was to check for bodies at the cemetery, and the third was to get a squad of ANBU for her to go after a snake.

---------

Naruto blushed, as his team traveled through the forest. He was sure that Anko was crazy, but her pulling her skirt up and then checking her panties for anything else took the cake. At least he did have one question answered for his perverted mind, that her hair color certainly was natural. This information came to him from a clone that had changed into a bug and he had placed on her skirt when he placed the note.

Naruto sighed relief, since he also knew that she had dispatched a few chuunin to do, as he had asked her to do. Naruto felt the urge to go to the bathroom and said, "I need to take a leak, so I'll be back in a second." Fully knowing that he would get caught, but he also figured on how he would escape.

He waited to feel the quick hit to the back of the head and cushioned it with moving his head forward. He landed in a heap on the ground and kept his eyes closed. He then felt rope being wrapped around him and tied tightly. Naruto had flexed his muscles while the assailant was doing his work, to give him some slack so that he could more easily escape. He listened, as his assailant left the area to go and get beat up by Sasuke. Naruto cut the rope and headed back to the clearing and watched as the Ame shinobi ended up behind Sasuke.

Naruto threw a kunai and watched, as the enemy jumped away. "You won't get away!" he yelled, in mock frustration.

Sasuke had grabbed the kunai with chakra on his foot and sent it at the Ame shinobi. He then proceeded to pummel the Ame shinobi and then stab him in the left arm. This had the effect of driving the enemy away.

They then proceeded to work on a codeword for the team if they were separated. Naruto knew that even if he remembered it, he didn't have too, since they expected him to not know it. Sometimes he hated knowing what was going to happen, one big déjà vu session. As soon as the codeword was given Orochimaru showed up in the guise of a Grass shinobi, and blew the team apart.

He looked forward and saw a shadow. 'Great here we go. Getting eaten by a snake summons, on my list of things not to do, but I think I can get around it or just kill it like I did in my vision,' he thought, as the snake swallowed him whole. "Guess we go with plan B, Multi-Shadow clone jutsu," he proclaimed, as hundreds of Naruto filled the stomach of the snake to bursting. The snake exploded in an orgy of snake guts. Naruto quickly sped off to get to his team.

-----------

Naruto watched in morbid fascination, as Sakura and Sasuke fought for their lives against Orochimaru. Knowing that if he did too much he might change things to the point where he didn't know what was going on. He watched, as Sasuke fought and defeated a snake and forced Orochimaru to leave the snake and slither up a tree to try to get to Sasuke. Naruto chuckled lightly, as a thought hit him. He quickly wrapped a piece of paper around a kunai and threw it and some shuriken at Orochimaru.

He then yelled, as the weapons halted Orochimaru's progress up the tree, "I'm sorry Sasuke! I forgot the codeword!" This caused everyone to look at Naruto and not notice the paper bomb attached to the kunai. It exploded.

Sasuke said, "This one is on a whole other level!" He was going to continue his rant, but was interrupted by the explosion that sent Orochimaru into a large branch

Naruto smirked, as Orochimaru picked himself up off a branch several meters away. "So you got away from my snake, Naruto-kun?" he asked in mock surprise. He then continued, "You have an interesting way of attacking an enemy, I like your style."

Naruto watched, as Sasuke's resolve broke and he offered Orochimaru the scroll, luckily Naruto had given him one of the ones he had palmed from Anko. No need to lose it needlessly, and if Anko's was a fake then so be it. Sasuke threw the pilfered scroll at Orochimaru, as he praised Sasuke for using an old tactic of giving a predator a different objective to avert them from themselves. Naruto jumped and took the scroll from the air. Landing next to Sasuke, as he yelled at Naruto, "You bastard! What are you doing? You don't understand the situation!"

Naruto smiled inwardly, as he punched Sasuke. "So the great Sasuke, is either a fake or has lost his nerve! So are you a coward or are you a fake?" he asked angrily.

Sasuke wore a look of surprise. "I'm the real Sasuke!" he proclaimed.

"Right! The Sasuke I know isn't going to be intimidated by this guy to the point of not being able to understand the situation. I don't know how strong this idiot is, but even if you give him the scroll, are you sure he will let us go?" Naruto asked pointedly.

Orochimaru laughed and said, "Naruto-kun, you are correct. Since I can just kill you and then take the scroll."

Naruto watched, as a familiar thing occurred. Orochimaru bit his thumb and streaked it down a tattoo on his left arm, as he then began a series of hand seals.

"Shut up! You bastard!" Naruto yelled, as he ran towards Orochimaru, he didn't use all of his speed, since he didn't want to reveal his true abilities just yet. He knew deep down that he was no match for Orochimaru and would be slaughtered if Orochimaru took him seriously, but he needed put forth the effort to look convincing for all involved. Sasuke all the while was telling Naruto to run away.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Orochimaru proclaimed, as he rose up on a new snake summons.

Naruto saw the tail coming and braced for the expected hit, as he knew from his vision if he jumped he would be hit, so why tinker with the vision just yet. Naruto began to focus and pull some of the Kyuubi chakra, not enough for others to notice just enough to enhance his senses and his abilities some.

Orochimaru smiled, since he saw Naruto thrown into the air. "You may eat him, my pet," he said in a nonchalant tone.

Naruto chuckled inwardly, as things were going according to his vision. "Eat this!" he proclaimed, as he slammed his fist into the snake. This broke the branch the snake was on and sent the snake to the forest floor, while Orochimaru looked at him in surprise. He then smiled and literally blew him away into a tree. Naruto cushioned the impact, but appeared to be hurt. Naruto was going to enjoy what happened next.

Orochimaru turned his attention towards Sasuke and said, "It's now your turn Sasuke-kun. What are you going to do?"

Sakura screamed, as the snake approached Sasuke, but Naruto was there to stop it less than a meter away from Sasuke. Sasuke looked astonished that Naruto had stopped the snake cold in its tracks from eating Sasuke. He then went wide eyed, as he noticed Naruto's red eyes.

"Hey, are you alright, scaredey cat?" Naruto said in a teasing voice, but was actually quite winded from the actual task of stopping the snake.

Naruto knew pain was coming and braced himself for it, as he felt Orochimaru's tongue wrap around him. "Damnit! Let go of me you pedophile!" he yelled.

"Oh my, aren't we a troublemaker, Five Part Seal," Orochimaru said only loud enough for Naruto hear, as he finished a couple hand seals and his fingers began to erupt in fire. He then thrust them into Naruto's stomach.

'Here comes the pain!' Naruto screamed mentally, as he heard Sakura scream and felt himself being thrown away from Orochimaru like some unwanted garbage. He felt the impact into the tree, the falling and a sudden stop before he lost consciousness.

-------------

Naruto woke to a sharp pain to the top of his head. "Damnit Choji, give me the stick and I'll whack you with it. That hurt!" he exclaimed. This brought attention to him. Naruto scowled at Choji and said, "No more ramen contests for you. Heck I might even tell Ichiraku what you did…"

Choji frowned at Naruto's statement. "Man you really know how to hurt a guy Naruto…" Shikamaru said in a bored tone.

"Yeah, but did he have to hit me? He could have just used some water or something," Naruto explained.

"I guess, but your reaction was better," Shikamaru replied, as he looked up, but then turned back to Naruto and dodged a kunai that was loosely thrown at him by Naruto. "Hey what was that for?"

Naruto began to laugh and replied, "You should see your reaction!" He then stuck his tongue out at Shikamaru, who just rolled his eyes.

"So how did helping us out go you guys?" Naruto asked much to the surprise of everyone in the clearing. "Hey Lee, thanks for the save." Again he surprised everyone by his statements.

"How did you know Lee saved us?" Sakura asked.

"Look how beat up everyone is, Lee most of all. He is bleeding from the ear and looks exhausted," Naruto explained.

'His power of observation bears watching,' Neji thought to himself.

Naruto watched, as Sakura gave Lee a parting compliment and Lee told her that 'the Leaf Lotus blooms twice.' Naruto smiled, since he knew what Lee meant. After some visiting the other teams dispersed, and Naruto found that he was missing the scroll he was carrying. He still had a matched set, but he wanted to make sure that they would get a replacement because he didn't trust the one that he had left from Anko was a real one or not. So they would have to continue and either try to find Kabuto to help them get another or find another team and hope that they had the right scroll.

Naruto bided his time and waited for the right time to get Kabuto to come to the camp. He didn't like it, but if he could use his vision to his advantage then he would. The next day or so was spent fishing and camping. Naruto came to the idea that currently Sakura was way too shallow for his tastes and preferred Hinata-chan. Sakura kept on bugging Sasuke for this or that, and ignored her teammate, even though he didn't ask for much other than information.

Kabuto showed up and denied Sasuke a fight, but also agreed to go with them. Naruto killed a centipede, as they approached the tower on the last night. Naruto knew from his vision that an Ame team was going to be waiting for them, so he improvised. He sent a shadow clone along with his team and waited for them to make a couple rounds. Naruto's clone and Kabuto noticed the centipede and began to formulate a plan to take out the Ame team, but Naruto had already worked out a plan on his own. He knew with the new seal in place his chakra was limited, but also his control was marginally worse, so he created several clones and seeded the area.

When the Ame team began to attack Naruto sent his clones into action, by taking out two of them immediately. He also knew if he killed them here he might not meet up with Aoi and help Idate, so he tied them up after knocking them out. He then proceeded to finish the plan made with Kabuto on the last one. His reserves were higher now than in the vision, so he had more staying power this time.

After taking out the last of the Ame shinobi the group headed towards the tower. Naruto was tired, but had reasonable levels of strength left. Kabuto was slightly injured, but nothing serious. Kabuto met up with his team and the teams parted ways. Naruto and his team entered the tower through the prescribed door and opened the scrolls. Iruka came from the summoning scroll, as expected, at least in Naruto's opinion. He was excited to see his friend and teacher again.

Iruka imparted some wisdom on the genin team. For Naruto, it was to use his mind more and for Sakura it was to train her body harder. Naruto tried, but couldn't stop Iruka stating his concern for Naruto. Naruto used what he had seen in the vision to stamp out this concern quickly. He told Iruka that he was a ninja now and didn't need to be babysat, in short.

Naruto and his team entered the arena and found the others that had passed the second part of the exam. Naruto winked at Hinata, as he passed her, which she returned with a blush. Naruto had already gone over the speech that the Hokage was giving, so he basically tuned it out. He went into his mind in an attempt to contact the Kyuubi, if only for a moment. He found himself in a familiar sewer. He entered the room that contained the demon, spirit of Kyuubi. He looked around and found chains in front of the bars and the Kyuubi sleeping behind the chains and bars. He approached the chains and felt pain increase with each step, so he stopped his approach. He then backed up and observed for a moment then he left back to the real world.

Naruto took his place up on the balcony close to Hinata, but not close enough to cause people to catch any idea that they may have a relationship. Naruto watched, as Sasuke struggled with Orochimaru's henchman Yoroi. He did eventually win by using a modified version of Lee's taijutsu, and calling it the 'Lion's Barrage'. Kakashi took Sasuke away to have his hickey sealed. Shino then went against Zaku, as Zaku underestimated Shino and blew his own arms open with chakra.

Kankuro made short work of Misumi, another of Orochimaru's lackeys. Naruto knew that he would have to give Sakura some encouragement to at least tie with Ino. He knew that neither of them were ready to be chuunin quite yet. It ended with a double knockout. Tenten got beaten by Temari, with Wind beating long range weapons. The sixth match pitted Shikamaru's intelligence versus Kin's genjutsu. She didn't have a chance and knocked herself out with the help of Shikamaru's 'Shadow possession jutsu'.

The seventh match was now upon him and to his sadness it was against Kiba. Kiba with all the bravado claimed he would win. Naruto smirked and waited to begin. Naruto thought it would be fun to play around this time. So at the start he created two Shadow clones and transformed himself into a lone stone on the arena floor. Kiba performed a beast mimicry jutsu, while the Naruto clones imitated Kiba and now there were four feral Kiba's facing each other in the arena.

"Now that was unexpected, but he will have to do more than that to fool Kiba," Kakashi said in an admiring tone.

Kiba lifted his nose and smelled the air. He then turned to the Kiba on his left and hit him. "I know you're Naruto. What? Didn't you think I could smell you?" he asked angrily.

The Kiba he hit turned to smoke and turned into Akamaru. He looked at the body in surprise. "This is to be expected from the class clown," Kakashi said quietly in his running commentary.

The Kiba across from his copied his attack and the Kiba to his right also turned to Akamaru. He then turned to Kiba and shrugged. Kiba attacked that one with a right hook and again was rewarded by an unconscious Akamaru lying before him. He then felt wire wrap around him and a kunai pressed to his throat. "Very clever, Naruto. How did you fool me?" Kiba asked the Naruto standing behind him while he saw three Akamarus on the ground.

"You didn't notice your surroundings as well as you think you did. I was a rock…" Naruto whispered into his ear. "Procter, I wish to claim victory. Do you concede, Kiba? I know you're strong enough, but you got fooled by the master," Naruto said in a mildly dejected tone.

Kiba nodded and replied, "I forfeit. I might win, but it would be too much trouble and might hurt myself seriously and the kunai in the crotch is incentive enough, Naruto." Everyone looked down and saw a second Naruto with a kunai pointed at Kiba's groin.

"The winner is, Uzumaki Naruto," Hayate proclaimed, while Naruto released Kiba from the wire and dispersed the clone.

Naruto and Kiba headed up to the balcony and were greeted by Hinata. "You both did very well," she praised both boys.

"I agree, but Naruto that was hitting a little below the belt, literally. Don't you think?" Kurenai asked with a smirk on her face.

"He won and Kiba is in one piece isn't he?" Kakashi asked.

Both boys growled at Kakashi. Naruto got next to Hinata and asked in a whispered tone, "You know he is still stronger than you, right?" Hinata nodded and smiled at Naruto, but he continued, "I will cheer you on, but I don't want you to get as close to dying as you did in my vision, so if he goes for a fatal blow, avoid it. I know you have the speed in you for a short burst."

Hinata nodded, just as her name appeared on the board for her to go against her cousin. She noticed the evil smirk cross his face. Neji moved down to the arena and waited for Hinata to approach the Proctor.

"You know you will lose today. Fate has determined it," Neji declared in an authoritative voice.

Hinata looked sadly at her cousin and waited for the Proctor to begin the match. Neji activated his Byakugan, as did Hinata. "Niisan, you are wrong about so many things," Hinata said quietly.

Neji looked at his cousin and then angrily replied, "These eyes see everything. Yours seem disturbed, as if you were not sure you can bring yourself to fight against me and uphold the honor of our clan. You're pathetic."

Hinata activated her Byakugan without hand seals. "You know Niisan, I could end this match without having to fight you, but you would learn nothing from that."

He suddenly paled at the sight of a single hand seal. "You would use that on me?" he asked in a terrified tone.

"To keep you from attempting to kill me, yes I would. Now you will listen to me Neji-niisan," she said in an authoritative tone.

Neji stood at rest, knowing that he couldn't cover the distance in enough time to stop her from using the seal. "Very well, Hinata-sama," he replied with venom laced in his voice.

"You would kill me to avenge your father's death? What would that get you? Father has some respect for you, but thinks you are driven by your hatred. It is misplaced, Niisan," she said in an even tone.

Up on the balcony Naruto watched happily, as Hinata might be able to defuse the situation, if not he would have to jump in. He knew that while she was stronger than before, she could still not match Neji blow for blow, just yet.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked and Kakashi looked at her in response. "Why does she keep on calling him brother?"

"They are cousins, Neji is the nephew of Hinata's father," Naruto answered, which caused both to look at him in surprise.

"How do you know?" Sakura asked.

"Listen and you'll find out something," Naruto replied in an annoyed tone.

"Misplaced? How can it be misplaced? It is because of you that my father is dead," Neji angrily replied.

"I was three years old and Kumo wanted the Byakugan. They kidnapped me to try and get it. How is it my fault?" she asked, as recognition began to form over his face. She then continued, "I see you now understand a little. I was only a child when they tried to take me. My father killed the Kumo ambassador for his effort. This created an international incident, with Kumo feeling that they were the party wronged, because we had just signed a treaty with them and we killed their ambassador. It didn't matter that he tried to kidnap me, because he was extended immunity from crimes according to the agreement."

"How could he be given immunity for crimes?" he asked.

"That was part of the agreement. If he were to commit a crime he would be expelled from Konoha and then dealt with in Kumo. So if he wasn't caught instead of killed, he might have gotten away with me and been able to take me to Kumo when he was expelled. So you see, our fathers were in a 'lose-lose' situation. Kumo demanded the body of the person who killed their ambassador. They knew that it was my father who killed him, so in a sense they would get what they wanted, the Byakugan," she said. She then sighed and continued, "Your father knew this and chose to take my father's place, as the one to be sacrificed for the peace. I don't know all the details, but I'm sure he did it both protect both of us and my father."

"You're lying!" Neji yelled.

"I have no reason to lie to you Niisan," she replied. She then turned to the proctor and said, "I forfeit, I know that I can't beat him and do not want to harm him. I would eventually lose in the end, but do not want to use either the seal or the fact that he is too troubled emotionally to win. I'm not ready to be chuunin."

"So you'll just run away?" Neji demanded.

"If you wish to spar to decide who will win, then I agree to those terms, but I will not be a party to a person using this contest try and kill his own cousin," Hinata said with a harsh glare.

"So are you forfeiting or not?" Hayate asked.

"Am I, Niisan?" Hinata asked.

Neji shoulders slumped and then shook his head. "I promise I will not attempt to kill you Hinata-sama," he said. "All juuken strikes will be real other than those to vital areas. Is that agreeable?" he asked.

Hinata nodded and moved to a defensive stance. "Shall we begin Niisan?" she asked happily.

Neji nodded and moved to his own stance. Both nodded to each other and waited for Hayate to begin the match.

Hayate dropped his arm and yelled, "Begin!"

Neji immediately moved towards Hinata, who somersaulted backwards, away from Neji. Neji raised an eyebrow. This wasn't the Hinata from before. She would back away, but not reposition herself to a better vantage point. He shook himself out of his musing when he saw a group of senbon coming at him. He dodged and rolled to his right. He watched for the next move only to have to dodge again, as another group of senbon headed towards him. Again he dodged to his right.

Hinata now had a pattern for Neji's dodging and prepared for it. She rolled an explosive note on a kunai and again threw a group of senbon. Just as he began to do the roll she threw the kunai and whispered, "Sorry Niisan."

Neji dodged the last group of senbon only to find himself staring at an activated explosive note attached to a kunai. He jumped back only to find himself thrown back from the resulting explosion.

Anko and Naruto both yelled in glee at the explosion. They liked the boom more than Neji getting nearly hit by it. Hinata dashed through the resulting smoke cloud only to find a bloodied Neji ready for her. She skidded to a halt only to find his palm placed on her forehead and a smile on his face. "You lose Hinata-sama," he exclaimed.

Hinata smiled and nodded. She placed her hands together and bowed to her cousin, who returned the gesture. "Proctor, Neji-niisan has won, because the blow he would have done, would have turned my brains to mush. He caught me by surprise, even with my using the explosive note," she explained.

Hayate looked at the Hokage who nodded and smiled warmly. "I declare Hyuuga Neji the winner, by a technical kill," he exclaimed.

Naruto cheered on even after the match was called.

"You're really a baka, you know that Naruto," Sakura said in a derogatory tone.

Naruto turned and scowled at the pink haired girl. "You know what?" he asked in a happy tone.

"What?" Sakura asked in return.

"I don't care…" he sang out at Sakura. He then turned and looked directly at Hinata and yelled, "Great job!"

"You know he should really be quieter as a shinobi," Neji said with a smirk.

Hinata smiled and walked with Neji to the medics, so they could examine him. "Actually I like him the way he is," she quietly said.

Neji looked at Hinata with a confused look. "What was that Hinata-sama?"

Hinata blushed and then said, "Nothing Neji-niisan and please don't call me sama. I have done nothing to deserve it other than being born and that isn't enough to qualify me to be given that much respect."

Neji shook his head and smiled. "No, Hinata-sama. You do deserve respect and an apology from me. I held you to things that were never your fault to begin with. I deeply apologize for my weakness. You will become a great kunoichi," he said with a smile on his face.

Hinata looked wistfully at Naruto and said, "It was Naruto-kun who suggested that, should I go against you that I should bring up your father and explain what happened from my point of view. He may not know everything, but he does have a way to people's hearts and an ability to show them the light. I was borrowing from Naruto-kun to help you, Niisan."

Neji looked up at the screaming blonde and smirked. "Well then tell him, thank you for helping to bring me from a dark place in life. Had you not done what you did, I would have tried to kill you," he sadly explained.

Hinata smiled sadly and nodded. "I know, but Naruto knew you could change for the better. He is strong and brave," she said with a far off look in her eyes.

"You care for him a lot don't you?" he asked.

"Yes, I really do," she said, but didn't continue.

Gai and Lee were yelling at how exciting the match was, since Neji approached. "I'm proud of you Neji, that you didn't let the whole main-branch family squabble interfere with your match," Gai exclaimed.

"Oh, but it did sensei. Oh, but it did…" he said, but only trailed off. Gai looked at his student in surprise and awe, for he didn't understand what was going on, but wanted to make sure he wasn't going to try to kill Hinata.

Naruto hugged Hinata and then said, "That was great! You setting him up for the bomb!" He then made a 'boom' noise and Hinata giggled at his antics. He then continued to make exaggerated movements and said, "He may have gotten you in the end, but it was really cool."

Kurenai watched this with both mirth and reservation. She knew that Hinata liked Naruto, but didn't know if Naruto would be able to return the feelings, even though he had on several occasions come to their training grounds to pick up Hinata for extended practice above and beyond their normal training. The work they did together was phenomenal, but he was still a little childish and didn't understand relationships. She did watch the improvements that the boy had caused within Hinata, thus she was proud of both of them, and if this blossomed into a full blown relationship she wouldn't oppose it. She watched the boy happily talk about the previous match and was happy that Hinata was able to resolve the issues her cousin had with her with the help of Naruto. 'You're one special kid, Naruto. I hope you realize that Hatake,' Kurenai thought to herself.

Naruto suddenly turned and grabbed Lee's arm and whispered to him, "Be careful with this guy Lee. He's really powerful and can use sand for both defense and offense. I know you can knock me around like a pinball, but you shouldn't let the sand touch you."

Lee looked at Naruto in confusion and asked, "Why is that Naruto-kun?"

"The sand can crush and kill people that get caught in it," Naruto explained.

Lee smiled and gave a thumps up sign. "No worries, Naruto-kun. I will beat him with the 'Flames of Youth!" he exclaimed.

Naruto grabbed his arm and didn't let go until he said, "Just promise me that if you need to open the gates and can't beat him, you will forfeit."

Lee saw that Naruto's eyes were serous and held apprehension in them. "I will promise you that if I can't win I will retire from the exams. Will that suffice, Naruto-kun?" Lee asked with a subdued smile.

Naruto nodded and hoped that Lee would give up before Gaara nearly killed him. He turned to Hinata and asked, "Will you keep an eye on him for me? I need to try to talk to a certain fox, so that a certain tanuuki will get the point."

Hinata nodded, as Naruto sat down and began to meditate.

Kakashi put his book away and watched the match.

------------

Naruto walked the corridors that were familiar, yet they were foreign to him. He then heard whimpering, like that heard from a hurt animal. Naruto entered the room where the Kyuubi's cage was located. He saw the paper seal on the bars. He also noticed glowing kanji floating in front of the cage, just in front of the chains. 'So that is what the five prong seal looks like,' he thought to himself. He then looked at Kyuubi who appeared to be sleeping in the cage, but also in pain. 'I'm not sure how to feel right now. The bastard gave me so many problems growing up and I didn't even know about him until only recently. I'll either have to get Ero-sennin or Jijii to remove the seal. If I get Jiraiya to do it, I should be able to get sign the toad summoning contract. I can at times pull the Kyuubi's chakra to the surface, but other times it is difficult. In the vision, it took Ero-sennin throwing me off a cliff for me to get access to the chakra. I guess I could make the same deal with the fox, but earlier. That will make training with it easier too. Hold on you teme fox. I'll ease your pain soon enough,' he thought. He took one last look at the whimpering fox before he left the room and back to the real world.

----------

"Gai-sensei, I do not want to give up, but I will. For I can't continue…" Lee yelled with his eyes half open.

Gaara didn't look pleased. The boy had hurt him and now was going to quit. "No mother will have your blood!" he yelled from his sitting position and his arm extended. The sand was traveling towards Lee, who jumped away, but landed hard on the ground.

"Proctor I give up…" Lee said loud enough to be heard and then collapsed to the ground.

"The winner is…" Hayate began to say, but was cut off by Gaara.

"No, he will die for hurting me!" he yelled.

Hayate and Gai both entered the sand and brushed it aside. "The match is over, Gaara! If you continue, you will be disqualified," Hayate threatened.

Gaara wore an angry look, but nodded. He then disappeared in a swirl of sand, only to reappear next to Baki. Both of his siblings gave Gaara some extra space.

Naruto heard Kakashi apologize to Gai for his remarks about teaching Lee a forbidden jutsu. Naruto smiled at this. He also heard Kakashi ask Sakura to fill him in on details because he had an errand to run. Naruto watched the quick match between Dosu and Choji. He knew this was an unfair match up. Dosu could use Choji's entire body to knock him out with a single sound attack, which is what happened.

Naruto went down with the other winners of the preliminaries, except for Sasuke who was currently in the hospital. The group drew lots and found out who they would be fighting in the finals. Naruto got to fight Neji, and he was determined to change the match, so the both might end up being chuunin, but it would take a lot of planning. Naruto was happy that Hinata was able to resolve the match without her getting hurt. He was actually surprised that she had gotten away without being hit at all. He did agree that a juuken strike to the brain would be fatal. Neji walked beside both Naruto and Hinata as they left the tower and headed back through the forest towards town.

--------

A/N: I will answer some questions here…

Neoslucius: Sarutobi was keeping tabs on Naruto and wanted to know what he was up to with the Hyuuga, if he was just going to get training or was up to something more…

Quite a few people have voice their concerns about Zabuza and Haku's relationship. In canon Haku refers to Zabuza's body like a person who is infatuated with said person. Zabuza is like the husband who doesn't concern himself with the emotions of the relationship, but deep down cares. And in my story they are husband and wife so there…


	5. Chapter 5 Confrontation

Disclaimer: You know the drill, I don't own Naruto and am just writing this for fun.

Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 5 –

Naruto knew that he could now change small things and not have to worry too much about major changes to his vision. He walked with Hinata to the hospital to check and see if Kakashi would turn him down flat. They both noticed Kurenai following them, as if to keep an eye on Naruto and Hinata.

The pair entered the hospital. Naruto walked up to the desk nurse and asked respectfully, "Which room is Uchiha Sasuke in?"

The nurse sneered at him and replied, "That information is private and we will not divulge that to anyone other than family."

"Well I'm his teammate, so that is sort of like family isn't it?" he asked in an angry tone.

Hinata inwardly chuckled at the exchange, but was worried at the course of the conversation would take when Kakashi arrived. Naruto continued to bicker with the nurse until Kakashi arrived and said, "Naruto, this is a hospital, so keep it down."

"Kakashi-sensei… so how is the teme doing?" Naruto asked with a slight smirk.

Kakashi put his hand up to try and stall any questions Naruto might ask. "I know what you're going to ask, but no. I can't train you," he said.

Naruto and Hinata looked at him with confusion written all over their faces. "What are you talking about Kakashi-sensei? I just asked how Sasuke-teme is doing," Naruto said in an attempt to clarify his question. "I didn't ask you about training. That was going to be after you told me how the jerk was doing, but since you seem to want to get that over with… Are you going to abandon me and not train me?"

Kakashi's face turned slightly red, flush with anger. He had been ready to set Naruto up with Ebisu to work on his basics, so that Naruto's training was covered for the chuunin exams. "Well Sasuke is doing better and should be fine in a couple days. I'm glad you were concerned about your teammate. As for training, no, I'm not abandoning you. I've got a special tutor lined up for you to help you with your training," he explained.

"You're not abandoning me? So it isn't that closet pervert Ebisu is it? Or any of those who don't like me, are they?" Naruto asked.

"Closet pervert?" Kakashi asked.

"Kakashi-sempai, is that how your students treat their betters?" Ebisu asked while pushing up his glasses with his middle finger.

"What are you doing here ero-jounin?" Naruto asked, with a huge smile, much to the anger and embarrassment of Ebisu.

"Kakashi, why are you not going to do any of Naruto's training?" Kurenai asked, as she rounded a pole in the lobby of the hospital.

"Well, Sasuke has a harder opponent than Naruto does, for one," Kakashi replied.

"You know ero-Ebisu doesn't exactly like me, sort of like most of the rest of the village…" Naruto said in a disheartened tone and then trailed off.

Ebisu straightened up and pushed his glasses back up his nose. "That isn't true Naruto-kun. You have done wonders for Konohamaru-kun's attitude," he replied happily.

"So what will we be working on?" Naruto asked.

"Chakra control," Ebisu replied happily.

Naruto looked at the man with annoyance written across his face. "Anything else?" he asked in a flat tone.

"Not really, Kakashi-sempai said you needed work on the basics, mainly chakra control and a little bit of work on your taijutsu," Ebisu answered.

Naruto sighed and looked at Kakashi and said, "I get chakra control and I bet you teach teme your Chidori."

Kakashi had the decency to look surprised. "As a matter of fact I was going to teach him that jutsu along with speed, and stamina work," Kakashi said, full of pride.

"So the first jutsu you teach will not be to either Sakura-chan or I, but to teme who already has an arsenal of fire jutsu. Come on name the jutsu that Sakura-chan knows," Naruto said in challenging voice.

Kakashi put his finger up to his chin and thought about it. "Well she knows the academy three," he replied happily.

"Okay, now name my jutsu arsenal," Naruto said, again challenging his sensei.

"Naruto, do we have to do this?" Kakashi asked only to be met with the stares of two fellow jounin, several chuunin and a couple of genin. He sighed and said, "Okay Naruto. You know two of the academy jutsu, and the Shadow clone jutsu."

"How many jutsu does Sasuke know?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure, several fire jutsu, maybe four or five," Kakashi replied.

"So you're going to add another jutsu to his list without even getting your other students up to similar levels?" Naruto asked. He was enjoying this to some extent.

"That isn't the point, Naruto. Sasuke is like me," Kakashi angrily responded.

"What, so he's an arrogant, self absorbed jerk, and a protégé?" Naruto asked.

"Well, yes, and he also has the same affinities that I have," Kakashi said in an angry tone.

"So, what affinities do Sakura-chan and I have?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Naruto laughed, but the others listening in scowled. "So did you ever think to check our affinities?" he asked.

"Yes I did, why?" Kakashi asked in return.

"When? Never mind, I can already tell you. I'm a Wind type with two sub types. I thought you would figure that out when I did what I did on the Wave mission," Naruto said angrily. He turned to Ebisu and asked, "So what type of chakra control exercises were you thinking of?"

Ebisu took a thinking pose and then said, "Well based on what Kakashi has told me I was going to teach you water walking…"

Naruto interrupted and asked, "An entire month to get that one? I got that one down, but could use some help getting an extra seal off of me that was placed on me when Sasuke got his hickey from…"

He was stopped by Kakashi placing his hand over Naruto's mouth and saying, "We don't mention that name openly, Naruto, or that fact about Sasuke."

Naruto forced the hand away from his mouth and said, "I get it, but you didn't think to ask if I was attacked and injured during that little scuffle with 'you know who' or should I say 'he who shall not be named?"

Kakashi shook his head and sighed. "No, Naruto, I didn't," he replied in a tired voice.

Naruto curled his index finger to have Kakashi put his head down, and whispered, "So what would a five prong seal do to the Kyuubi seal?"

Kakashi's eyes went wide, and he said worriedly, "We need to get you to the Hokage now."

Kakashi put his arm around Naruto and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Kurenai did the same with Hinata and then Ebisu left via the same means.

All of them soon arrived in the Hokage's office to find the Hokage and Jiraiya both apparently waiting for them to arrive.

"Welcome Naruto-kun, Kakashi, Kurenai-chan, Ebisu, Kurenai and Hinata-chan," Sarutobi said happily.

"Ebisu, you can leave, I'll be taking over Naruto's training for the chuunin exams," Jiraiya said in an unhappy tone.

Sarutobi nodded and Ebisu disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Hinata and Kurenai-sensei can stay, because they both know about Kyuubi," Naruto explained.

Kakashi looked at him in surprise and awe. "You told the Hyuuga heir about Kyuubi?" he asked in astonishment.

Naruto nodded and asked, "Why would I hold that back from my best friend and training partner after all of our training sessions? And the trust we have built up."

Kakashi looked at Kurenai who just nodded at this revelation.

"So gaki, how much do you know?" Jiraiya asked.

"That's a vague question. Sort of like 'how deep is the ocean?'" Naruto replied sarcastically.

Jiraiya sighed, shook his head and said, "Jutsu, I mean jutsu and control exercises."

"Well, I know Substitution, Transformation, and Shadow clone jutsu. I'm also working on a jutsu that is pure chakra manipulation, but with this new seal on the Fourth's I'm at about half normal control and strength for chakra," Naruto replied.

"Okay, let's look at the seal," Jiraiya said.

Naruto removed his jacket, shirt and mesh shirt. He then channeled his chakra. The Kyuubi seal appeared and then a second one appeared just outside of the first.

"An eight prong seal, with a five point seal around that. That isn't good," Jiraiya said, much to the confusion of some of the other present.

"What's wrong with the two seals?" Kurenai asked.

"You shouldn't mix even and odd point seals together, unless you're asking for trouble," Naruto answered much to everyone's surprise, other than Hinata.

Jiraiya eyed Naruto and then asked, "You work with seals?"

Naruto shook his head and said, "They confused me in the academy about seals and Sensei here didn't bother to give us any lessons on them. I've done a little research on my own, but not enough to know anything of value."

The three adults glared at Kakashi, who said in his defense, "Hey, I was told they were up to speed on things from the academy."

Naruto sighed and then said, "Look underneath the underneath and what is done is done. Just get this seal off of me so we can go train, Jiraiya-sensei."

Hinata giggled at Naruto's outburst, but not for the reasons that anyone, but Naruto and her understood. 'He is being so respectful. I wonder when he will start calling him ero-sennin?' she thought to herself.

"Okay brace yourself, here goes nothing. Five prong seal release!" Jiraiya exclaimed, as he drove his glowing fingers into Naruto's stomach. Naruto doubled over even after he had prepared for the blow. "Feeling better Naruto?" he asked.

Naruto pulled out a kunai and began to spin it on his hand slowly. "Yes, much better. You know I think I could make a jutsu off of this control exercise," he said to no one in particular.

Jiraiya raised his right hand and a swirling blue ball of chakra appeared. "You mean like this?" he asked.

Naruto nodded emphatically. "Yeah, that is what I envisioned it to look like. I've got rotation down, but couldn't figure out how to make it into a ball," he explained.

"This is a jutsu created by the fourth called the Rasengan. You're not ready for it, but from what I can tell you're more advanced in control than your sensei's reports say," Jiraiya said with a glare at Kakashi.

Naruto looked at Kakashi and asked, "So does teme know how to walk on water?"

Kakashi's shoulders slumped and he nodded.

"So when were you going to teach us it?" Naruto asked.

"Well apparently I don't need to teach you it, because you were holding back from your teammates," Kakashi explained.

"So much for being scum," Naruto said off handedly.

Kakashi glared at Naruto with his one eye and said, "The extra training without authorization was abandoning your comrades."

"Really? I told you about it and how do explain that the Hokage knew about it? I found out about these exercises on my own and to make matters worse you didn't offer to train Sakura in water walking." Naruto said angrily, not noticing his dropping of the suffix. "Better yet, didn't you tell us that we could also train on our own?"

Kakashi growled slightly. "So then why didn't you help Sakura-'chan'? You have a crush on her, so why not give her some help?" he asked, hoping that he had one upped his student.

"She never asked for help, but I did ask you for help and now here we are. You worried about the curse seal on Sasuke, but didn't even think that I might also have been hurt. Some sensei…" Naruto said derogatorily.

The killing intent was rolling off Kakashi and directed towards Naruto.

"I'm your student, we as a team figured out your test and now you tell me that Sasuke is more important, because you believe that he has a stronger opponent? Yes I know that Gaara is like me, but I have Neji to go up against, did you know he's the number one rookie from last year? Luckily for me he isn't an angry person any more or I would have put up more of a fight about this. Go train the golden boy. I know he trains hard, but he has stalled lately. For a genius and someone who is supposed to have a keen eye, you're quite blind. I just hope your attempt at sealing the mark did the job or we might have to stop him from going to Orochimaru," Naruto said sadly.

"Why would we have to worry about him going to Orochimaru?" Kakashi asked.

"The promise of power, and training from a Sannin, it would be intoxicating for a person like him who is bent only on revenge. He certainly isn't trying to rebuild the clan right now. Let's face it, when was the last time he looked at a girl in anything other than disgust?" Naruto said, but then put up his hands and continued, "I'm not saying he likes boys, but he certainly hasn't been chasing after girls. I know he could have his pick of almost any female our age in Konoha, because the only female I know that likes me in the village other than some of the adults is Hinata-chan here," Naruto said, while pointing at a blushing Hinata.

"It's true. All the girls in our graduating class along with some of the girls in Neji-niisan's class are attracted to Sasuke-san, but he has shown no interest," Hinata explained.

Naruto sighed and looked at Kakashi. "He is so driven by his hatred that he's blind to those things around him. We need to figure out how to help him or contain him somehow," he said, as Kakashi's anger abated.

"So this isn't because you're jealous?" Kakashi asked.

"Jealous, jealous of an insensitive, arrogant jerk? Nope, I've been working on my own with Hinata-chan here and have been getting stronger. Our friends from Wave have been helping us out too. I know if I can work with Sasuke and Sakura then I can work with just about anybody," Naruto replied in an annoyed tone.

"What's so bad about your teammates?" Kakashi asked.

"Hm… let's see. Sasuke is self-important and believes everyone is below his interest, but I will admit that up until Orochimaru gave him that hickey, he was improving and might have ended up being my friend. He was slowly moving away from his self-absorbed attitude, but that teme messed with his mind. Now for Sakura, where should I start?" Naruto asked rhetorically. He then sighed and continued, "She beats me for fun or to let off some aggression, or even worse if I have a question she doesn't like. I'm sure she might get better, but have you ever reprimanded her for the assaults?"

Hinata, Naruto, Kurenai, Jiraiya and Sarutobi glared at Kakashi. "I thought she would get over it eventually," Kakashi said in a nonchalant tone.

"Did you know that she hit me a couple days before the exams for playing with the Hokage's grandson and his friends? She also hit him and nearly creating an international incident, by chasing him into a Suna shinobi," Naruto said.

"I didn't hear about this. You say she hit my grandson?" Sarutobi asked.

"I will admit Konohamaru wasn't being smart, but she pounded him pretty good, for insulting her, but only after she had insulted and assaulted me. This was caused by Sasuke telling her that she was worse less than I was. Had the incident with Suna not happened I would have reported her myself. She has some anger issues to work on," Naruto explained.

"Kakashi, what do you have to say for your team's behavior?" Sarutobi asked.

"Kids will be kids…" Kakashi said happily, while he shrugged his shoulders.

"So do I get Jiraiya-sama as a sensei?" Naruto asked, since he totally ignored Kakashi's response.

Sarutobi sighed and looked at Jiraiya, who shrugged his shoulders.

"So much for being my godfather…" Naruto said in a dejected tone.

Jiraiya, Kurenai, Sarutobi and Kakashi all wore looks of surprise on their faces.

Naruto inwardly smirked at the next stunt he was going to pull. He pointed at the picture of the Fourth Hokage and asked, "So why do I look like him? And why do I look like Tsunade-sama's little brother in everything, but hair color?"

Hinata was doing her best to hold her laughter in, but allowed a small giggle to escape her lips. Naruto glanced over at her and smirked, since they both knew they were now going to blow the lid off of the future and try to change it.

Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Naruto had sent him a message through Anko about Orochimaru being in the village. He later found out where the message was placed, this brought a blush to his face. Now the boy was making associations with his actual father and his former student Tsunade. "Naruto-kun, why are asking these questions?" he asked, actually wanting to know.

Naruto smiled wide and motioned for the Hokage to come closer. When the Hokage had his ear by Naruto's mouth, he said, "I know more things than people give me credit for. If it were known that the Fourth had living relative, said relative would be hunted by Iwagakure and his enemies here in the village. If Tsunade had an actual relative who might posses the Mokuton gene, then Orochimaru or even worse the council would force the person into being breeding stock."

Sarutobi's eyes went wide at what Naruto had just said. Naruto knew that he was the child of the Fourth and that he might be related to Tsunade. He was either playing a dangerous game or knew more than he had led people to believe. One of the factors in his favor was him bringing a missing Kiri shinobi and a Hyouton user to the village. He did know that Naruto was training with Hinata, Haku and Zabuza along with his regular training with his team.

Kakashi squinted at Naruto with his eye and sighed. "Naruto, you're the lynch pin for our team and help keep it together," Kakashi said in admittance.

Naruto closed his eyes and sighed. "Kakashi-sensei, my job is to be your student. I've had to go to others to get training. You're pawning me off on ero-Ebisu is just another example of you doing this. I know that I can convince Jiraiya-sama to become my sensei with one jutsu," Naruto said boastfully.

Jiraiya smiled broadly and said, "Oh, yeah? Go ahead and use this great jutsu."

Hinata blushed, but also shook her head. Kakashi looked at his student with intrigue. Sarutobi immediately ran to his chair and sat down. Kurenai glared at Naruto. Naruto made a hand seal and in a puff of smoke turned into a blonde girl of about eighteen years, with a rather large chest. She was wearing a very skimpy orange bikini. She walked up to Jiraiya and lifted his chin up, winked and said in a seductive voice, "Oh, Jiraiya-sama, would you please teach Naruto-kun, pretty please?"

Jiraiya nodded dumbly and reached out to touch the girl's breasts only to have his hand slapped gently.

"I'm not that type of girl, Jiraiya-sama, but I do thank you for agreeing to teach Naruto-kun," she said meekly.

Jiraiya nodded recognition. His face suddenly changed to surprise then the beautiful form was replaced by Naruto. "Hey, I was enjoying that…" he said in a hurt tone.

Naruto smirked and replied, "There will be more, but you can only look. I'm not the kind of girl who likes to touch and Hinata-chan would not be pleased if you were to touch the merchandise."

Jiraiya sighed in defeat. "Okay kid. I'll train you, but only if you do your training in that form," he said excitedly.

Naruto shook his head. "No, it will be your reward for training me," he said grudgingly. He then turned to Kakashi and said, "I know you copied Lee-san opening the gates with your Sharingan. So if I create a jutsu, will you steal it or are they safe from you and Sasuke?"

"I have a student to train," Kakashi exclaimed and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Sarutobi sighed at the developments, but then said, "Don't blame him too much. He has had a broken heart for a long time. The loss of the Yondaime was the final straw that pushed him over the edge. He thinks that training Sasuke will repay his former teammate for the gift that he gave him."

Naruto too sighed, but said, "And what for his deceased sensei's son?"

Jiraiya and Sarutobi both noticed the lack of a surprised look on Hinata's face, but they did see the look of surprise fill Kurenai's face. "So you both know don't you?" Jiraiya finally asked.

Both teens nodded to the question.

"How long have you known this little tidbit of information?" Jiraiya asked.

"Since the middle of the Wave mission and I told Hinata-chan about it before the chuunin exams. I also have some vital information for you, but it will cost you letting me sign the toad summoning contract," Naruto explained.

Jiraiya smirked and said, "Why not the monkey or demand the slug contract?"

"I knew you're going to allow me to sign it anyways. So here's the information. Akatsuki is an organization that is after all of the Bijuu and their jinchuuriki. I know of most of the locations of the jinchuuriki. Gaara of Suna holds the Ichibi the one tailed tanuuki. Nii Yugito of Kumo holds Nibi the two tailed cat. Sanbi is sitting peacefully in a lake right now since the former Mizukage died and it was released. Roushi of Iwa holds Yonbi the four tailed ape. Han also from Iwa holds Gobi the five tailed whale-horse. Utakata of Mist holds Rokubi or the six tailed slug. Fu of Taki holds Shichibi the seven tailed beetle. Kirabi also of Kumo holds Hachibi the eight tailed Ox. And yours truly holds Kyuubi the nine tailed fox. There are a few other demons sealed out there, but we don't need to get into them right now," Naruto said with a bit of mirth.

"How do you know all of this? Jinchuuriki are usually well hidden in their villages, so that they can be used as secret weapons in times of war," Kurenai explained.

Naruto smirked and said, "Let's just say that a fox inadvertently told me in my dreams."

Sarutobi looked at Jiraiya and both nodded. "There have been a few jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and only one was said to possessed visions of the future," Sarutobi explained, as he walked to a shelf and pulled out an ancient looking book. He skimmed through the pages until he found the page he was looking for. "It was said that he became a sage that could sometimes predict the future, but when he tried to change something it would not always work. It is said that some things were setup by Kami herself and that even knowing the future couldn't prevent it from happening. So you got this information from a vision?"

Naruto nodded and said, "I can't tell you everything, because you might change things so much I won't know what is going to happen. I'm taking a big risk now telling you guys what I know."

"What do you know now?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto sighed and replied, "Well… if I don't change things, Jiji will die at the end of the chuunin exams at the hands of Orochimaru, but will seal his arms away with a forbidden jutsu. Jiraiya, my godfather will die at the hands of Pain, a former student, but known to him as Nagato several years later. Even your Sage mode will not save you from death. Baachan and I will be very depressed, but I become the new Toad Sage. In the end, I fight Uchiha Madara and another person." He turns away in slight pain at the thought that his former friend will eventually go down the road of destruction like he did in his vision.

"So you say that my old student Orochimaru will be present at the end of the chuunin exams?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto nodded and said, "He will be in the disguise of the Kazekage. He will have killed him a few weeks before. More than likely he is doing it right now."

"We should warn Suna," Kurenai said.

Naruto shook his head. "No, it's already too late and Gaara hates his father for trying to kill him, because in his eyes he is a failed experiment. I think I can reach Gaara and make him ally. And Suna is already bent on attacking us with Oto for things their Daimyo did to their village. I figure the best we can do is try to lessen the damage and casualties now. We mustn't show that we're preparing for battle or they will be tipped off at this," he explained.

"And Kakashi thought you didn't have any potential," Kurenai said with much remorse.

Naruto chuckled darkly. "He will eventually change his mind. I also know my heritage, but am not willing to reveal it just yet, other than to Baachan," Naruto said happily.

"Who is this 'Baachan'?" Jiraiya asked.

"Your old teammate, she's my grandmother. I don't know who the grandfather was, but it would either be you or Dan," Naruto said with a chuckle.

Sarutobi took his chin with his hand and began to think. "So you say you're related to the Senju?" he asked, as he pondered out loud.

"Yep, as are the Uchiha, but that goes all the way back to the point of the Sage of the Six Realms," Naruto said.

"He was just a legend," Jiraiya said.

"Is the Riningan a legend?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"The Riningan?" Kurenai repeated, but with a questioning look on her face.

"It's another Doujutsu like the Byakugan or Sharingan. Who do you know has that Doujutsu?" Sarutobi asked.

"Nagato does," Jiraiya said sadly.

"You met him soon after you achieved the title of Sannin, while in Ame during the war," Naruto explained. He then sighed and said, "I'm afraid I've said too much. I've given Hinata-chan a way to avoid being nearly killed by her cousin, told you guys about Akatsuki, Orochimaru and the invasion. I'm afraid that I will move things too far away from my vision and go into an area where I don't know what might happen and not be able to prevent people from being hurt. Oh and send someone with Hayate tonight to watch after Kabuto. Otherwise he will be dead, but let the Suna jounin escape or you can fake Hayate-san's death."

Jiraiya smirked and bit his thumb, swiped the blood across his palm. "Summoning Jutsu," he exclaimed. A large toad with a scroll in its mouth appeared. The toad handed Jiraiya the scroll with its tongue. He took the scroll and unrolled it. "Sign it on the last open space," Jiraiya ordered.

Naruto nodded and bit his thumb. He then signed the scroll and rerolled the scroll. The toad then took the scroll and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "So I do these hand seals and say, Summoning jutsu," Naruto exclaimed. He slammed his hand on the desk a web design appeared on the desk, followed by a puff of smoke and the appearance of an orange toad the size of a small cat.

"Yo!" the frog exclaimed happily.

"Hey Gamakichi," Naruto said happily.

"How do you know my name kid?" Gamakichi asked with a confused look on his face.

"It came to me in a dream…" Naruto said with a faraway look on his face. Hinata began to giggle, as did Kurenai.

"How… how did you get a toad on your first try?" Jiraiya said with a stutter.

"I used my vision to gauge how much chakra was needed. I'm not quite ready to summon Gamabunta and he wouldn't fit in the office anyways," Naruto explained.

Sarutobi chuckled at the antics of his adopted grandson and his student. "So Naruto-kun, you mentioned Mokuton. Do you have those affinities needed for that bloodline?" he asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, but they are suppressed by the Kyuubi who's affinity is Wind. I need a lot of training to become proficient with those elements. From the vision I understand and can use Wind jutsu. I just have a small arsenal of possible jutsu for that element. I haven't the control or the capacity right not to pull off the Rasengan. I know a couple of variants to it that will come when I can get it down. Right now I lack the control and pathways in my arms and hands to do a Rasengan properly even with a clone to help with the last part," he explained.

"Would you like some training in the other elemental affinities?" Jiraiya asked.

"That would be great. Could Hinata-chan also attend, since she is my training partner?" Naruto asked excitedly.

Jiraiya sighed, but nodded agreement. "I agree to your conditions, but she will have to keep up or I will send her home. Do I make myself clear?" he asked in a demanding tone.

Hinata looked up at Kurenai in surprise, but then looked at Jiraiya and nodded excitedly. "I will try not to let you down, Jiraiya-sama," she said respectfully.

"She will also not be dressed in any provocative clothing. As much as I hate to show you the 'Sexy jutsu', that will be the only female you will get to look at between the two of us who will be scantily clad. I will not have you do anything lecherous to my friend," Naruto said in an authoritative voice.

Jiraiya, Kurenai and Sarutobi were surprised by Naruto proclamation. Jiraiya smiled warmly and nodded. "She's too young for me anyways. I also don't want either Hiashi or Kurenai-san here to have a reason to get angry with me. Your training will start to tomorrow," he said happily.

"At the waterfall with the bathing spot just beyond the shrubs, so you can do your 'research' when we are busy training?" Naruto asked with a slight scowl.

Jiraiya nodded and said, "That will work."

"How do you know of such a spot Naruto?" Kurenai asked.

"Remember, I had a vision and that is the spot where Jiraiya-san taught me how to do the 'Summoning jutsu'. He likes to peek at women. The more scantily clad the better. We all know he's a pervert…" Naruto said only to correct himself, "I mean 'super pervert'. Sorry for not getting that correct, Jiraiya-sensei, or more accurately 'Ero-sennin'."

Kurenai nodded, but continued to scowl at Jiraiya. Hinata smiled at Naruto finally letting out his favorite Sensei's nickname. Jiraiya scowled at Naruto, but didn't feel too put out by Naruto's nickname, so long as he didn't use it that often, he might not mind.

Naruto and Hinata left the office and headed towards the Hyuuga estate.

Jiraiya scowled, but Kurenai smiled warmly at the two young shinobi.

"You know she might get in the way of my training," Jiraiya said darkly.

"She might surprise you, Jiraiya-sama," Kurenai replied in an angry tone.

"She will do fine. I would check her affinity and you can progress from there. We have so few Wind users in the village that I don't know who other than my son to train Naruto-kun in that element. But his having both Water and Earth affinities is helpful though. You can you train him in those affinities," Sarutobi said.

----------

"Do you think you gave them too much information, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

Naruto shrugged and replied, "I don't know. I just don't want Jiji to die. That is, if I can help it."

The two were allowed into the Hyuuga compound, but noticed a person had followed them to the compound. "Do think he heard us?" Naruto asked.

"He didn't appear to have heard anything while we talked, but we did keep it quiet," Hinata replied.

Hiashi wore a smile at the approaching teens and asked, "Welcome back Naruto-kun. What brings you here today?"

Naruto bowed to Hiashi, who returned the gesture. "Hiashi-dono, I have garnered training from the Sannin Jiraiya and Hinata-chan is invited to join us in the training. We came to ask your permission for her to join the training. I have also laid down the ground rules for Jiraiya and his perverted ways, where Hinata-chan is concerned. He will be able to look at other females who are scantily clad, but Hinata-chan will not have to reveal anything," Naruto explained.

Hiashi nodded and replied, "I'm glad you're looking after the interests of my daughter. I feel that this arrangement is most beneficial, so I agree to allow her to train with you under the Sannin. Come join us for lunch."

Naruto and Hinata entered the dining area to find Hanabi, Neji and an unknown Hyuuga female sitting at the table. The conversation was light and they found out that Hiashi had given Neji the scroll from his father to read. He appeared much happier now than he was before, after having read the scroll.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. I also want to wish all you Americans and Canadians a happy belated Thanksgiving. I'm working on my other stories, but with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it is hard to get the stories written on a timely basis. Here are a couple replies to the reviews…

Dragon Man 180: Naruto is smart, but not a genius. He went with what he knew rather than risking something that might not work.

RavenKnight013: Yes he knows them, and is slowly working them into his style, but still has a long way to go to learn how to do the Kata correctly. Knowledge isn't always helpful.


	6. Chapter 6 The invasion begins…

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto….

Chapter 6 – The invasion begins…

Naruto woke up early and changed into his regular jumpsuit and created a clone. He then changed into a black outfit and sent the clone outside in the direction of the training grounds. Naruto grabbed some toast with jam and then followed the clone to find a familiar person following his clone. He created another clone to keep watch on the stalker and then headed to the Hyuuga compound.

He arrived quickly enough and was let in with little fanfare. He greeted Hiashi and Hanabi, while he waited for Hinata. Hanabi raised an eyebrow to the blonde and asked, "Why did you get rid of that atrocious orange jumpsuit?"

Naruto just shrugged and said, "I have to change things up, especially if I don't want to be noticed."

Hanabi's face lit up like she had just figured out the meaning to the universe. She mouthed the word 'oh', as she put her hands to her cheeks.

A voice interrupted the teasing. "Naruto-kun, please don't tease my sister. She might get the idea that you might like her and develop a crush on you," Hinata said, only to have Hanabi blush profusely at this comment. Hinata noticed this and said in an exasperated tone, "Hanabi! He's my boyfriend and you can't have him."

Naruto turned bright red, as he noticed Hiashi raise an eyebrow and appeared to be chuckling lightly. Naruto shook his head and grabbed Hinata's hand. "Bye Hanabi-imouto, Hiashi-sama. We'll more than likely, be back later this evening. I know that Ero-sennin will work us to the bone," he explained, as they headed away from the compound.

-----------

Several days later, Naruto and Hinata sat in meditative poses while they appeared to be fighting the urge to hit a certain pervert who was giggling like a maniac. "Ero-sennin… instead of making all that noise, you could just write your ideas down and laugh about them later," Naruto said in a very angry tone.

"Shut-up brat, you have no idea what a genius I am," Jiraiya replied in a sarcastic tone, until he felt the Kyuubi's chakra welling up from within Naruto.

Hinata's eyes opened and she looked at Naruto. What she saw surprised her. His features were more pronounced, his hair was wilder, his finger nails had become claws, his whisker marks were both larger and darker, and she noticed his canine teeth elongating to the point that they were visible, since they poked out between his lips. "Are you alright Naruto-kun?" she asked in a worried tone.

Naruto didn't open his eyes, but nodded. "I'm fine, Hinata-chan. The pervert is just getting me a little angry. The fox isn't quite awake yet, but I'm able to get some of its chakra to use right now. I figure that if I can keep up the use of this chakra I can help my system become more accustom to it. At this level there aren't any ill side effects. I figure I'm at about a quarter tail worth of chakra and should be fully enveloped in the red Kyuubi chakra," he explained.

Hinata nodded, but she then gasped when he opened his eyes. Gone were the loving blue eyes, they were replaced by red irises with slit-like pupils. Naruto grinned and this intensified the feral look with his elongated canines. "So do you like it?" Naruto asked.

Hinata shook her head and then nodded. Naruto chuckled at her confusion. Naruto pricked his thumb and did several hand seals and said, "Summoning jutsu!"

A large cloud of smoke appeared and as the smoke slowly dissipated it revealed a large toad, about the size of a small hill. Naruto eyed the toad and shook his head. It was light and dark green and had two swords on his back. Jiraiya turned and whistled at the huge toad. "Nice to see you Gamahiro," he said happily.

"**Did this child summon me?" **Gamahiro asked.

Naruto nodded and replied wearily, "Yes I did, but I was hoping to summon Boss-toad."

"You're nearly there kid. You just need more chakra, and possibly some more control," Jiraiya explained.

"**If there is nothing than you need of me, than I shall return," **Gamahiro said, before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto slumped over and sighed. Hinata was at his side. "Naruto-kun," she asked in a worried tone.

Naruto chuckled. "I'm fine, just a little tired, that's all," he said in his defense.

"The Kyuubi chakra is intense and malevolent," Hinata explained.

"What would you expect from the strongest of the nine animal spirits?" Jiraiya asked.

"It's not that. It's just using that chakra is tiring and I feel a little drained afterwards. I know from the vision that this is normal, but I figured I had gathered enough chakra to do it. I know later on I can gather Natural chakra, but I don't want to gamble and become a statue, because I don't have the control to use it," Naruto explained.

"You would have to use either Ma or Pa to do that," Jiraiya said in a surprised tone.

"Nope, won't work. Kyuubi won't allow for it, for some odd reason. Guess that is one of the pitfalls of being a jinchuuriki," Naruto said in a too happy of a tone to be anything other than him being sarcastic.

"So have you talked to Kyuubi?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto shook his head and said, "No, not yet. I keep visiting the cage and the furball is still asleep. I'm hoping today it might wake up. Heck there's no telling whether it is a boy or a girl."

Jiraiya chuckled and said, "It's a manifestation of chakra, a creature unlike any other. My guess is that it doesn't have a sex per se, or it might even be a hermaphrodite."

Naruto returned to his meditative pose and entered his mindscape.

---------

He traveled the familiar corridors and entered the chamber with the seal. He heard a low chuckle and grinned. "So you're finally awake you damn fox!" he yelled at the cage.

A set of red glowing eyes appeared and then a large set of teeth appeared. The fox chuckled lowly and then squinted its eyes. **"So my container has finally chosen to visit me,"** the fox said in a booming voice.

Naruto shook his head and replied, "Nope I've been visiting you off and on for several months. You were either asleep or in pain. I hope you appreciate me getting that seal removed that was hurting you."

"**I can never be hurt!"** the fox said arrogantly.

"Keep your pride, I need to know a few things and want more access to your chakra. Consider it rent for living in my body," Naruto explained.

The fox lowered its head and growled at Naruto, but not in an apparent malicious way. **"I'm impressed that you don't cower before me. I shall give you the power you seek and allow you to ask your questions,"** the fox said, almost laughing.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, furball. So what do you know about Madara Uchiha?" he asked.

-----------

The area around Naruto began to swirl with both power and wind. Both Jiraiya and Hinata had to shield themselves from the wind blowing small twigs and other debris at them. Naruto opened his eyes, bit his thumb and proceeded to do several hand seals, while he exclaimed, "Summoning Jutsu!"

A cloud engulfed the area and a shadow blocked out the sun.

'Did he actually do it?' Jiraiya asked himself, as he tried to determine what had actually been summoned.

"**Jiraiya! Why have you summoned me you lecherous old coot!" **Gamabunta yelled.

"Hey bossman!" Naruto yelled.

"**Eh? Who are you and why are you on top of me?" **Bunta asked.

Naruto chuckled and replied happily, "I summoned you, so that I could become your subordinate. I'm sure your son and the others told you about this."

"**Yes, they did mention that someone would summon me soon. So you're the brat," **Gamabunta said in a derogatory tone.

Naruto chuckled and said, "We can drink over it in a few years. Heck if you want me to ride on your head for the day, I could do that too."

Gamabunta smiled and lowered himself closer to the ground.

Jiraiya grabbed Hinata and ran through the bushes towards the waterfall. "Everyone, clear the area!" he yelled, as the frightened women near the waterfall began to ran away from the huge toad.

"**So you think you can hold on to me?" **Gamabunta asked, as he jumped up into the air.

Naruto had somewhat prepared for this to happen, so he lay down on Gamabunta's nose and attached himself with chakra. 'This is going to be a wild ride for sure,' he thought to himself. Eight hours later Naruto was barely conscious, but still hanging onto Gamabunta. "So you give up?" Naruto asked with a slur in his speech.

"**No, but you've proved your point Uzumaki Naruto. I will allow you to be my subordinate,"** Bunta admitted.

Naruto jumped off of Gamabunta's nose, but collapsed in a heap when he landed.

"**You should be more careful, kid. Since I have taken you in, you may now summon us any time you need our assistance," **Gamabunta said happily and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Well, while you were off gallivanting with Bunta, I've taught Hinata here, how to access her water affinity, since you two chased off all the pretty girls," Jiraiya said in a whiny tone, until he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He looked down to see an angry Hinata.

"So you think that I'm not pretty?" she asked angrily.

Jiraiya put up his other hand in a submissive gesture and said, "No, it's just that you're too young for me and Naruto forbid me to look at you in that way."

Hinata glared at the Sannin, but moved to help Naruto recover after using so much chakra and also so much of the Kyuubi's chakra.

-------------

It took a week for Naruto begin to work with his Earth affinity, and then another week to actually get a single jutsu to work. Hinata in the meanwhile was able to master two water based jutsu. Naruto was also given a temporary room in the Hyuuga compound to help speed up Hinata and his meetings before training. The elders got wind of this, but since they were being trained by a Sannin they kept their mouths shut about it.

The last week Naruto and Hinata began to work on seals with Jiraiya. Naruto had hoped that he would get a chance to work with Water jutsu, but also determined that it would take too much work to master a third element in such a short amount of time. While toad taijutsu suited Naruto it didn't go over well with Hinata and her Juuken training. Naruto and Jiraiya worked with her on her Guardian Eight Trigrams, Sixty-four Palms jutsu. Naruto's clones could attest to how powerful this jutsu actually was.

Sarutobi informed Naruto that Hayate had 'died' a day before the beginning of the third portion of the exams. Jiraiya told Sarutobi how the training had gone, but also kept some of it for a surprise. Naruto also played along and sought out Gaara. He told him to keep himself under control. Gaara ignored Naruto until he mentioned that they were alike and had monsters in them. Shikamaru was present at the time, but appeared more worried about Gaara then what Naruto was talking about. Gai finally broke up the gathering and sent Gaara back to his hotel.

--------------

Naruto took Hinata to the training grounds for nostalgic kiss before his match. He told her again how they had met in this very same spot and what they discussed.

He wrapped her in a hug and kissed her gently again. He then said, "I want you to be careful and keep Kiba close. Now before you say that I'm insulting your skills, I'm not. You're a strong kunoichi and the woman that I love. I just want you safe and there is going to be so much going on that I'm worried you might get hurt or even die. In my vision you were at the hospital at the time of the attack. So if you feel a genjutsu, play along like you're falling under it, but don't allow yourself to actually be captured by it. I'm sure that we can help out with the others. I'm just worried about Gaara and if I will be able to stop him in time."

"I wonder if Sasuke-teme will be late again, like in your vision," Hinata said in a mildly derogatory tone.

Naruto chuckled and released Hinata. "More than likely with that sensei of mine," he said in with quite a bit of mirth. "Kiba is almost here. Keep an eye on him. He's our friend and we need to keep our friends safe."

Hinata nodded, as Kiba and Akamaru entered the training grounds. "Hey Naruto, Hinata. You guys ready to go to the stadium?"

Both of the other teens nodded, as the four headed towards the stadium. They met up with Konohamaru. Naruto then told him to go to school and that he would fill him in about the tournament later. Konohamaru agreed readily and went off to school.

---------------

Naruto left Kiba and Hinata, so that they could find their seats, while he entered the main arena. Naruto noticed the smirk on Neji's face and walked up beside him. "So you want to take our time and show off some of our hard work or do you want to make it quick?" Naruto whispered to Neji.

Neji's smirk threatened to become an actual smile. "I think we should draw it out, seeing as how that Uchiha punk isn't here right now," Neji replied quietly.

Naruto smiled widely and winked at Neji. He then looked at Genma and saw him nod to him before he said, "So we made it to the big time, right?"

Genma nodded and said, "Look up and see that everyone here is here to see you."

All the genin looked up into the crowd and the audience began to cheer. Naruto watched the Hokage box carefully and then noticed the glare that Gaara was giving the Kazekage.

The Hokage stood up and said loudly, "Thank you all for coming to the Hidden Leaf's chuunin exams. We will start the main tournament matches between the eight participants who made it through the preliminaries. Please watch and enjoy it until the end." He then sat down and appeared to have a discussion with the Kazekage.

Genma then said, "There is something I'd like to tell you before the matches begin. Please look at this." He held up a new sheet that had Dosu's name removed, but still had all the other participants' names in their former order. "There have been some minor changes to the tournament, so check again to see who you're fighting."

Naruto raised his arm and asked, "Sasuke isn't here yet, what are you going to do?"

Genma looked at Naruto with an annoyed look on his face and said, "If he doesn't appear by the time of his match, he will forfeit."

Naruto growled and said under his breath, "No way they'll let that happen. He'll just be late like Kakashi sensei. I swear he'd be late to his own funeral."

Genma smirked at the jab at Kakashi, but then proceeded to explain the rules, "Alright guys, this is your final test. The arena is different, but the rules are the same as in the prelims, there are none. You fight until one of you dies, or acknowledges defeat, but if I determine that the fight is over. I'll step in and stop it. You got that?"

Everyone nodded, as Genma said, "I need Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto to remain. All the others please proceed to the observation platform above the arena floor."

The others filed out of the arena and up the stairs to the platform to observe the coming battle.

Genma turned to Naruto and Neji. He smiled and said, "I want a good fight between the two of you." He watched them both nod and take their respective taijutsu positions. Genma lowered his hand, jumped back and said, "Begin!"

Naruto face turned from just grinning to a maniacal grin. He then charged Neji. Neji activated his Byakugan and prepared for the attack. To his surprise Naruto's speed was increasing as he covered the twenty yards between them. He began to establish the timing of his first strike and waited the few seconds left before he could strike.

Naruto saw Neji preparing for his charge and at the last minute twisted to the right slightly, just being missed by Neji's strike with his right arm. Naruto pulled his arm up and attempted to hit Neji in the face only to find his hand both blocked and hurting, thanks to Neji's left hand. Naruto jumped back to avoid a swinging strike by Neji.

Shaking the numbness out of his right hand, he shook his head and said, "Nice block Neji. As usual your speed is amazing." Naruto's face turned serious and he continued, "But that won't help as much as you would like."

"We shall see Uzumaki, we shall see," Neji said, while motioning for Naruto to attack again. His expression turned from confidence to surprise when he saw a strand of red chakra traveling from Naruto's core to the injured hand. 'What is going on? The hand for all intents and purposes is no longer useable, but that red chakra is opening the chakra point at his wrist,' he thought to himself, as he watched Naruto shake his hand again, able to now flex his hand normally. "I see you have some tricks in you yet. We shall put them to the test Uzumaki," he said boastfully.

"You know that, that hurts?" Naruto asked. He then crossed his fingers and created more than a dozen Shadow clones. "Hey Neji, let's play a game. Find the real Naruto."

Neji noticed one slowing sliding into the ground and charged that one. He struck it in the upper chest. "Trying to hide yourself it is an admirable tactic, but it won't work," he exclaimed.

Naruto began to cough up some blood, but then smiled and said, "You guessed wrong…" With that Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving a hole in the ground. "You want another turn?" Another Naruto asked.

"Indeed," Neji said with a smirk. He slowly walked around to the individual Narutos. He noted the placement of each and kept his guard up the whole time. "This is very unusual. All of your clones are solid and have chakra coils. If I had the time to analyze them more I would be able to discern which would be the real you, but I cannot at this moment tell which of them is the real you. So I'm left to just guess. What about you two," he exclaimed, as he struck out and hit two of the Narutos. Both disappeared in clouds of smoke.

"Guess you guessed wrong. My turn," one of the Narutos exclaimed. Three charged Neji and found that two hit him while the other two were taken out by chakra strikes to the chest.

"Got you!" Neji exclaimed. He ran through the group of clones to one who appeared to be cowering. "I knew you wouldn't attack yourself," Neji explained, as he slammed a palm into Naruto's right chest.

Naruto slid back and stood up and began to cough up blood, but also smirked at Neji. 'That can't be him' Neji thought, but then jumped back, as a Naruto came out of the ground and nearly was able to grab onto his ankles.

Naruto fully emerged from the ground and looked very disappointed. "Dang it! I almost had you there. Guess we have to go on," Naruto exclaimed, as the clone coughing up blood disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Neji skidded to a halt and then said, "So you know some Earth style jutsu. That will not help you Uzumaki."

He then noticed Naruto taking a deep breath and going through several hand seals. "Wind style: Drilling pressure bullet!" Naruto exclaimed, as he breathed out a condensed bullet of air at Neji.

Neji looked at this wide eyed. He could see the bullet better than most because of his Byakugan, but was only able to dodge it by the barest of margins. His left arm was grazed and it tore his shirt sleeve from his shirt. He winced from the pain of the glancing blow. "Very good Uzumaki, I bet you can't do that again," Neji said boastfully. To his surprise and that of the crowd Naruto had just finished the hand seals and sent a second bullet at Neji. Neji in his arrogance didn't think that Naruto would continue the attack on him, but he did. Neji released a burst of chakra and began to spin and exclaimed, "Rotation!" A semicircle of chakra covered the spinning genin. The jutsu attack slammed into the chakra shield and exploded.

Neji found himself landing on his feet, but was shaken. He pulled out a kunai and threw it at the closest cluster of Naruto clones and watched it explode taking about six of them with it.

"Ah, no fair. You cheated," Naruto exclaimed in a sarcastic manner.

"All's fair in war," Neji exclaimed.

"Nu, uh," Naruto replied in a childish tone. He then continued, "It's said that: 'All's fair in love and war,' so nah." Naruto stuck his tongue out at Neji. "And this isn't love… thank Kami," Naruto exclaimed, while both Neji and Genma nodded agreement. Naruto rushed through several hand seal and moved his hand from his side in an upwards motion, while he yelled, "Wind style: Great breakthrough!"

Neji went wide eyed and again waited for the attack to come and then used another 'Rotation' to protect himself from the attack. When he stopped spinning he looked at Naruto and opened his mouth to speak, but was dragged down into the ground, so that only his head was above ground.

"Earth style: Inner decapitation," Naruto said in a calm voice. He then bent down and looked Neji in the eyes and said, "Sorry, did I interrupt you wanting to say something?"

Neji frowned and nodded. "I was going to concede the battle to you. If you can use that jutsu then there would be no way for me to defeat you. Using is as a distraction is even more of a surprise," Neji explained. He then turned his head to the proctor, "I give up! I was about too, but didn't have a chance, so I concede to Uzumaki Naruto."

Genma nodded and then said, "Winner Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto sighed relief and pulled Neji from the ground. Neji noticed that Naruto was sweating and breathing heavily, but was trying to hide the fact. You would have to be a Hyuuga or close to Naruto to have noticed this. He smirked at Naruto waving to the applause from the crowd. He also noticed the gleam in Naruto's eyes when they came upon his cousin. 'Thanks to the two of you my eyes have been opened. Thank you Hinata-sama and Naruto-san,' he thought to himself.

Naruto watched in annoyance as Sasuke's match was postponed. He then chuckled and laughed at Kankuro when he forfeited. Kankuro growled at the blonde, but said nothing. Naruto played with Shikamaru and knocked him into the arena, much to his annoyance. Naruto then walked over to Shino and said quietly, "Put a female bug on doll boy and keep an eye on him and his sister, I'll watch the walking sandbag."

Shino pushed his glasses up on his face and asked, without turning to Naruto, "Why should I do that?"

Naruto continued to look down at the arena. Shikamaru appeared to be losing, but Naruto was sure he would win and then forfeit. "I have a feeling that all hell's going to break lose during teme's match and I think that the Sand guys are going to be trouble," he replied quietly.

"What makes you think that?" Shino asked pointedly.

"That Kankuro guy, he seemed to give up too easily. I'm sure he's trying to keep the armament of his puppets hidden, and that would mean that he is going to fight against us instead of you," Naruto said in a worried tone.

"So you think our allies from Sand are going to attack?" Shino asked.

"Come on Shika! You can beat her!" Naruto yelled down into the arena, but then quietly said to Shino, "That would be my impression. See how tightly wound the ANBU are around the arena? And that's nothing compared to the old man.

Shino looked up at the Hokage and noticed that he had fake smile on his face, along with two jounin guards. 'That is odd that the Hokage would have two guards at an event like this. My insects also tell me that there are three more in the area of the Hokage's box. He must not trust the Kazekage,' he thought to himself. "Very well Naruto-san, I will do as you ask."

Naruto looked down and adjusted the zipper on his jacket. He saw a small beetle moving quickly across the floor towards Kankuro. He smiled inwardly. "Also be careful with that one. He uses poisons and I'm not sure if you and your friends can handle poison gases yet," Naruto said again in a worried tone.

"Thank you for your concern for me and my allies, Naruto-san. You have become a most intriguing ally. I must ask you about something if I may," Shino asked with an implied desire for an answer.

"Sure go ahead and ask. I'm not sure that you'll like the answer, but go ahead. Hey Shikamaru! Come on! Can't you get out there and fight her!" Naruto yelled down into the arena, but then chuckled at how he knew Shikamaru was going to be angry with him.

"You are a dichotomy, Uzumaki Naruto," Shino said in a monotone voice.

Naruto smiled and said proudly, "I know. Isn't it great?" Naruto then put his hand on Shino's sleeve and said happily, "I bet he gets her here."

"There is no way he'll beat my sister, since she's gotten his range figured out," Kankuro proudly boasted.

"I'll bet being the other's slave for a day that he will get her, but then forfeit," Naruto said, as he turned to the puppet user.

'Easy, bet and I won't have to worry since you're going to be dead after today,' Kankuro thought to himself. He then said, "Sure you're on."

Kankuro and Shino, along with the crowd watch in amazement as Shikamaru captured Temari in his 'Shadow possession' jutsu. They were even more surprised when Shikamaru promptly forfeited to Temari complaining of lack of chakra to continue. Shino shook his head in amazement, while Kankuro just stood there gaping at how he had lost a bet to a blonde shrimp.

Naruto jumped down to the arena floor and put a hand on Shikamaru's should. "I knew you were going to do that. Heck, I bet Choji even knew it too."

"So, you ready for the next fight?" Shikamaru asked with a smirk.

"Sure, but I bet that teme will make it here in about fifteen minutes, and even then he will make it just in time. I really hate that my sensei likes to be late and even worse, he's turning teme into someone like him, Kami help us all," Naruto said in a teasing tone. Shikamaru and Genma both chuckled at the blonde's joke.

After Genma announced that they would wait another ten minutes for Sasuke to show up before he was disqualified. Naruto threw a glance at Gaara who seemed to be accepting the situation without much of a problem. He also noticed Shino nod to him telling him that he had also planted a bug on Temari. Naruto began to tap his foot and said, "You know he's going to get here and make it showy. Bet he leaves about five to ten seconds to spare."

Genma looked at the blonde like he was crazy, but Shikamaru just laughed at the outburst.

Genma looked at his watch and right with seven seconds to spare he felt a burst of chakra hitting the area, along with a swirl of leaves. He and Naruto both smirked while nodding to each other. Shikamaru and the crowd looked on in awe. "Guess you were right…" he turned to his new arrivals and watched as the leaves settled to the ground.

Kakashi spoke up and said, "Sorry we're late…"

Genma smiled at the pair and asked, "Your name?"

Sasuke put on a 'super' scowl and replied, "Uchiha Sasuke…"

"And you call me an attention hound! You're getting as bad as sensei. Next you'll tell us that 'a black cat crossed your path and you had to go the long way'," Naruto said as a jibe at Kakashi.

"You're an idiot," Sasuke replied happily. He then asked, "So did you win your fight?"

Naruto smiled wide and replied, "You know it, no thanks to our lazy sensei." Naruto then scowled at Kakashi.

Kakashi put up a hand to defend himself and said, "Hey, you said that you were fine with me working with Sasuke." He then turned to Genma, scratched the back of his neck and asked nervously, "Well… we did show up all flashy and the like, but… was Sasuke… disqualified?"

Genma sighed and said, "Geez, your tardiness must be contagious."

Kakashi sighed and said, "See, Sasuke, you're late… So, what is the verdict?"

Genma chuckled and replied, "Don't worry… his match was pushed till the end, and so he wasn't disqualified."

"And the luck of the Uchiha stands… kiss their ass and they get what they want," Naruto said in a derogatory tone.

Sasuke growled, but turned to glare at Gaara up in the observation platform. Naruto then said, "Don't let him get a hold of your balls or two things will happen."

Sasuke looked quizzically at Naruto and then asked, "What are those?"

Naruto put up on finger and said, "First you couldn't rebuild your clan and second… you'd lose all your fan girls. Okay the second may not be so bad for you, but you'd also be useless in a fight after that."

Sasuke actually smirked at Naruto's joke. The crowd began to cheer for Sasuke. Naruto put a hand on Shikamaru and began to walk towards the stairs to the observation platform. 'Got to keep my cool or Shikamaru will die at the hands of Gaara,' Naruto thought to himself, as they came to the top of the stairs and saw a shinobi from the Hidden Grass village being swallowed up by sand.

Gaara walked past the broken bodies of the dead shinobi. He looked at Naruto with no emotion on his face. Naruto splashed a little Kyuubi chakra through his system just enough to let Gaara know that he was also a jinchuuriki. Gaara's eyes showed surprise at Naruto's eyes. He continued on past the two Konoha shinobi.

Shikamaru collapsed on the stairs in a sitting position. Naruto sat down next to Shikamaru and began to speak in a haunting tone, "Don't take this the wrong way Shika, but if he had not been interrupted by those guys we would have had a real problem."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto like he was crazy and said, "Yeah, we would be dead."

Naruto sighed and said, "This doesn't go beyond this hallway." Naruto waited for Shikamaru to nod and then he continued, "Gaara is the jinchuuriki of Shukaku the Ichibi. I would of course be injured in a fight against him, but he would be hard pressed to kill me… because I'm the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto and then a light went off in his head. "So that's it. Well that does explain why most everyone doesn't like you, but it would be too troublesome for me to begin hating you for something that you had no control over."

Naruto smiled warmly at his friend, and replied, "Thanks, Shikamaru. Other than one other, it feels good to know that some people don't judge me on what is sealed in me."

Shikamaru chuckled at Naruto's admission and said, "So how is it going with Hinata?"

Naruto slapped his fist in his hand and exclaimed, "Damn, how did you know?"

"I didn't until now, but I had a feeling that it was the case," Shikamaru admitted.

"Guess you are the smartest one of our generation," Naruto said jokingly. He then continued, "I think we should warn my tardy sensei about Gaara and what Sasuke is up against. Also be on your guard, something doesn't seem right."

"You mean like that puppet guy giving up before the fight? Yeah that bothered me too. What are you thinking, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, as the pair headed to the stands to find Kakashi.

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Everyone was focused on the match between Gaara and Sasuke that they didn't notice Naruto and Shikamaru enter the stands behind Kakashi. "So he went ultimate defense? You know Sasuke-chan using Bushy brow's taijutsu isn't enough to beat Gaara," Naruto said to anyone who would listen.

"Naruto…" Sakura said angrily.

"Chill out Sakura-chan. He stole Bushy brow's taijutsu, but I'll bet that Kakashi-teme-sensei gave him more than just taijutsu to work with, even if he lacks the stamina to use the taijutsu effectively," Naruto said, while cupping his chin in his hand.

"Naruto-kun…" Lee said sadly, but with a smile on his face.

"You know from his fight with Bushy brow, that he can use that sand like another limb. There is a chance that Gaara will kill teme. I know you spent the whole month with teme, and taught him your special jutsu, but it won't be enough to do more than injure him," Naruto explained.

Suddenly there was a screeching sound like a flock of birds. "You'd be surprised what he can do with a little encouragement," Kakashi said under his breath.

Gai turned to Kakashi and asked angrily, "No way, is that?"

Kakashi looked down at the arena and said, "The reason I trained Sasuke is… because he's the same type as me."

"So that is the reason, you trained him in taijutsu, so you could also work on increasing his speed," Guy explained.

"Yup," Kakashi happily replied.

"And you taught him Chidori, an assassination jutsu… on the Kazekage's son no less. That will make for great international relations," Naruto said in a sarcastic tone.

"How do you know about the 'Chidori', Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"You're the most well known shinobi in the Leaf and my supposed sensei. Why would you not think that I would do some investigating of you?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi shrugged and said, "I guess that explains your knowledge to some extent."

"This technique is based on a simple stab, but there is more to it. It is Kakashi's sole original technique. It's a technique specifically made for assassinations. The speed of the stab and the enormous amount of chakra that used, also because the chakra is concentrated in the hand along with the speed of the user, all you hear is the chirp, chirp it produces, like the sound of a thousand birds running towards you. And that is the reason it is called the Chidori," Gai explained.

Naruto nodded, but then shook his head, as he looked on to see Sasuke's left arm penetrate the sphere of sand protecting Gaara. 'Oh well, at least he might get away. Poor Gaara is going to feel that in the morning,' Naruto thought to himself.

"Chidori… also known as 'Lightning edge' or Raikiri, a technique name give when Kakashi cut a lightning bolt with said technique," Gai explained. He sighed and then continued, "Its true name is Chidori. It is known for its stabbing speed that pushes the limits of the human body… and the huge amount of chakra that is focused in that single arm becomes the blade of a sword that can cut through anything. But… what a truly ridiculous technique it is."

"Like you should talk… right Lee-kun?' Kakashi asked playfully.

Sakura began to gleefully say, "Well it's beyond my level…"

"Yes we both know how many jutsu that Kakashi has taught us…" Naruto said in a derogatory tone. "The only reason he can use that technique without getting himself killed, is because of his Sharingan. Wait for it…"

"What?!" Gaara yelled in a blood curdling scream. "Blood? My blood!!"

"And now teme will have to try to get back his arm before it is turned into pulp," Naruto said, as if he were narrating the scene down on the arena floor. Naruto chuckled and continued, "Now for the weird sand arm being birthed. I'm sure he and Gaara will be happy parents."

Shikamaru began to laugh at Naruto's playing around and calling the fight perfectly.

"And the siblings are actually worried for their younger brother, for the first time in a long time," Naruto said, while Kakashi and Gai showed surprise on their faces. With that key Naruto sent off several clones that weren't really noticed because of what was happening down in the arena. "And there was scream from the arena and Gaara again showed his face, after of course scaring most of the people in the stadium," Naruto continued his commentary.

An inhuman scream came from the arena floor and the sand sphere around Gaara fell.

"And the Uchiha has achieved what was thought impossible, he actually hurt Gaara and made him bleed," Naruto said sadly. Naruto moved his hands to the ram seal and said, "Time for bed… pretty feathers…" he then whispered, "Release…"

Naruto and Shikamaru fell to the ground in a heap.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Signing off for this week and should have an update sometime next year for this story.

RaiderXV…


	7. Chapter 7 What happened?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

I know you guys liked the running commentary from our lovable blonde, so we shall have some more…

Enjoy the chapter…

Chapter 7 – What happened???

Around the stadium most of the audience was falling under the genjutsu created by Kabuto. The barrier was erected to protect the Hokage and Orochimaru. Three of the four ANBU stopped before hitting the barrier. The fourth almost hit it, but was intercepted by an orange blur.

Naruto smiled widely at the ANBU and said, "You shouldn't touch things that look dangerous, but I know that someone isn't going to listen to me."

Tayuya looked at the boy who had just saved the live a Leaf ANBU and smiled. She suddenly felt an awkward pressure and some pleasure emanating from her left breast. She looked down to see her bow missing and the same kid fondling her breast under her shirt. 'What the hell?' she thought, as she fought to keep her wits about her. She would never admit that she was enjoying this, but her body wanted it to continue and to stop at the same time.

"Like that? I can give you more…" the Naruto that knelt before her said quietly as he moved his other hand beneath her shirt and fondled her other breast. She moaned in delight at the contact, but then said, "Can't betray Orochi… oh… maru… oh… sama… don't… stop…"

Naruto continued his ministrations of the 'North Gate' Sound shinobi.

The clone with the ANBU smiled and said, "He will break her soon and then we can enter the area without having to worry about the barrier."

"Please stop, it feels so good… losing concentration," Tayuya moaned out quietly.

"You know I can make you happy…" the clone explained, as his right hand trailed down her chest to her stomach. She quivered at the touch and he quickly slipped it down the front of her pants.

She looked at him with a glare only to see a kind smile returned back at her. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head when his hand touched her where no other man had been before. The barrier lost cohesion and Naruto quickly touched a pressure point on the girl knocking her out. "Dang, I hope Hinata-chan never hears about this or I might get in trouble for not doing this to her first. It might be in a good or a bad way," he exclaimed as he wrapped the girl up in some wire.

The ANBU quickly jumped past the original line for the barrier and quickly subdued the other three that had created the barrier.

Orochimaru looked at the blonde with distain and anger. "You have ruined my revenge!" he exclaimed and then produced his infamous sword and quickly cut Naruto in half.

Said Naruto stuck his tongue out at the Sannin before the blade hit him and left a lasting impression when the boy turned into a cloud of smoke showing that it was only a 'Shadow clone'. He then felt a tearing sensation in his back, as his clothes were shredded.

"Dang! Haven't got it quite yet," Naruto exclaimed, as Orochimaru's body slammed into the roof.

Orochimaru turned to Naruto with his clothes in shambles. Naruto felt revulsion at the sight of Orochimaru showing off the face of a younger female. Naruto looked on in morbid fascination, apparently Orochimaru didn't care that 'his' breasts were now showing and that his female body now showed signs of damage.

"You surprise me Naruto-kun… This is the body that I have taken over and she was happy to do so, so that I could be immortal. Now you have damaged this body and taken out my men. Clever little boy, too clever. Now I must take care of you myself," Orochimaru said in a threatening tone.

"You might be a good looking girl, but you can't top this, sexy jutsu," Naruto exclaimed, as his body changed into a naked, lithe, and beautiful young blond woman. He then continued, "The sickly skin isn't a good look on you. This is a better looking body."

Orochimaru looked at the boy, now girl and pulled his jaw off the floor. He wouldn't be outdone by a mere genin, so he grabbed the tattered remains of his outfit and tore them off his body to reveal a sickly white woman's body. "Really Naruto-kun, this is what a woman's body should look like, now die! Wind Style: great breakthrough!" he exclaimed after he did a couple of hand seals.

The wind headed towards Naruto and Orochimaru's eyes went wide when he saw the girl go through the same hand seals and exclaim, "Wind style: Great Breakthrough!"

The two jutsu slammed into each other and tore the remnants of Orochimaru's clothing from his grip. Orochimaru then felt a huge power slam into the back of his head, sending him right into the tempest. Cuts adorned his body, as he traveled through the colliding jutsu and then into the clone of Naruto. Orochimaru picked himself up and ran towards the exit of the stadium, still naked and in female form. "I will get you for this Uzumaki Naruto!" he exclaimed as he disappeared from sight.

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Sakura looked around and saw fighting engulf the stands in the stadium. She looked up to see a Sound shinobi coming straight at her with the intent to kill. She then saw a kunai pass her and impact the man just before a shadow appeared above her. She looked up to see Kakashi standing above her.

She then heard the voice of Naruto saying in a taunting tone, "I got him first, but nice attempt to block, sensei-teme."

Kakashi scowled with his single eye and then cut his finger and said, "I've got a mission for you two, plus Shikamaru there. By the way, Naruto, how did you get out of the genjutsu?"

Naruto chuckled and replied, "I knew it was coming and prepared, a clone dispersing is enough to release it. So Shika, you want to go fetch duck-hair boy, before we lose the Uchiha forever in the village?"

Kakashi gaped at Naruto, but then was stunned when Shikamaru responded. "Why? It would be too much trouble to save him from his destiny," he said in a sarcastic tone.

Naruto chuckled at this while Sakura paled at the implications. Kakashi summoned Pakun and then said, "I need you to help these three go and collect Uchiha Sasuke, so you're in charge."

Sakura began to ask, "So how are we going to get out of here… without being noticed?" Her question was interrupted by both Gai and Naruto pinning a Sound Shinobi each against the wall. Naruto with a completed Rasengan, much to the surprise of all present and Gai, just pushed his guy through the wall. Naruto's jutsu also destroyed a large chunk of wall, leaving a second gaping hole.

"Nicely done Naruto-kun, your powers of youth are most impressive," Gai said proudly.

Naruto smirked, tossed two shuriken that impacted four Sound Shinobi, puncturing the first and embedding in the second each. "This way guys. Shadow Clone jutsu. You guys know what to do," he said to the dozen clones that followed. Naruto rolled his eyes when he got the memories of what he did to the Sound girl. 'I think I might have learned something that Hinata-chan might like,' he thought to himself.

"Naruto, why did you create so many clones? You more than likely will get us caught," Pakun said pointedly.

"Yeah, Naruto-baka," Sakura said to add her own commentary.

"Shut it Haruno… We will be followed anyways. I just want to have some fun with the hunter squad. There will be nine of them, eight trailing and the last one to make sure the squad doesn't get ambushed, or if they do, try and relieve that ambush," Naruto explained, as the four moved away from Konoha, three were stunned by Naruto's explanation.

"So you're saying that an ambush wouldn't work?" Shikamaru asked.

"It might, but it would be tertiary to our main objective, find and bringing teme back," Naruto said in an annoyed tone. He then turned to the shadows of a building and said, "You can come out Shino, I know you're there. We'll need all the help we can get."

Shino appeared next to Naruto and joined the merry bunch on their way after Sasuke. "You know something don't you Naruto-san?" he asked quietly.

Naruto nodded, but was seen by Shikamaru. He then said, "Watch out for the guy with the dolls, he has a poisons in that toy of his, including poison gas."

"Thank you for that warning Naruto-san," Shino said dispassionately.

Naruto suddenly smiled and said, "Too bad I'm so good with traps." Everyone looked at him in confusion. He then explained, "The first eight got caught in a simple trap, but the ninth got caught in an all encompassing trap. I love tar and feathers. Those chickens will have to deal with Asuma-sensei now."

"I feel sorry for them," Shikamaru said in an almost jovial tone.

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Sasuke had caught up with the Sand siblings and was currently fighting Temari, who seemed rather determined to stop him. In his estimation she had made the final slip up and he had covered the area where she was going to land with fireballs and explosive notes. Turning to leave he winced at the pain of his curse seal trying to activate. He staggered for a moment then continued on after Kankuro and Gaara.

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Naruto pointed down at a smoldering area and then at the branches in front of them. "Wind Style: Great breakthrough!" he yelled and sent the jutsu off to the side, destroying several trees and causing a girl to fall from the trees. He then continued, "Shikamaru and Sakuara, go secure her and then return her to Konoha as a prisoner of war.

Sakura said angrily, "Why…", but was interrupted by a glare from Naruto. It stopped her immediately. She and Shikamaru complied quickly and had subdued Temari before she was able to do much of anything.

Naruto, Shino and Pakun all continued after Gaara, Kankuro, and Sasuke.

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Sasuke was watching the boy in front of him. "You can't escape from me, I can tell which is you and which is the puppet," Sasuke exclaimed.

"Does it matter, when you're dead?" Kankuro asked happily and jumped at Sasuke.

"Fire Style: Grand fireball!" Sasuke exclaimed, as a large fire ball moved from in front of him and hit the Sand shinobi dead center. Sasuke smirked, but then scowled when he had to dodge a kunai. He looked at the impact point and said, "So you're using poison? It doesn't matter. I'll still beat you."

"Uchiha Sasuke, stand down and allow me to fight him. He was my opponent before and I believe I have first dibs on the fight with him," Shino explained.

"Yeah and we can capture Gaara," Naruto said happily.

Gaara slowly stood and looked directly at Sasuke and exclaimed, "Uchiha!! I will have your blood!"

Naruto looked at Shino and said, "Take it elsewhere, he's going ballistic."

Kankuro nodded and jumped away, not wanting to be in the path of his rampaging brother.

Sasuke was breathing hard from both the exertion and from the killing intent coming off of Gaara. Sasuke looked at Naruto in awe, because he appeared to be unaffected by Gaara.

"So Gaara, we can do this two ways, the long drawn out way, where you show your secret and I kick your butt, or we can talk like reasonable people and learn about friendship. I'm guessing since Sasuke pissed you off we are going with the former. So beat on Sasuke for a little while and when he can't go anymore I'll take over and we can have a little discussion," Naruto said boastfully.

"You are weak, Uzumaki. I want the blood of the Uchiha," Gaara said angrily.

"So do most of the girls my age, but I'm not sure he goes that way, if you know what I mean," Naruto said, only to dodge a punch from Sasuke. He then asked, "Hey, since when did you accept any of the offers to fornicate with your fan girls? And I thought you wanted to fight sand boy over there… oops looks like he's getting mad. Sand transformation stage one partially complete."

Gaara's right side was now covered in sand that began to take on the appearance of a tanuuki. "Will you entertain me Uchiha?" he asked fiendishly.

Sasuke jumped towards Gaara and began a 'Chidori. Gaara also jumped at Sasuke and then they connected. Sasuke landed on the branch that Gaara had previously inhabited. While Naruto jumped up and away from where Gaara landed. "At first it appears that the 'Great Uchiha's attack didn't do anything, but wait for it…" Naruto said with one hand on his ear and the other as if he had a microphone.

Suddenly the sand arm of Gaara fell away and he screamed.

Naruto continued his commentary, "And he did actually hit the 'Demon of the Sand'. And the crowd goes… wait a minute, we seem to have lost our crowd. I apologize for the technical difficulties, but we will get back to our fight."

"Shut up Naruto," Sasuke said with a smile and drooping eyes.

The arm on Gaara began to reform and the sand formed a second arm. It also fully encompassed his face and formed a tail.

"Ra, ra, ree, kick him in the knee, rah, rah, ras, kick his ass!" a blond girl in a cheerleader costume, strangely similar to Naruto's sexy jutsu girl was cheering on the fight, but neither could tell who she was rooting for.

"Naruto, I swear I'm going to rape that girl of yours," Sasuke said sarcastically.

"I don't know whether to be honored or offended… Either he does like girls or… I don't want to think about it," Naruto exclaimed. He then added, "I would get out of the line of fire, Sasuke-chan."

Sasuke glared for a second, but then sensed the danger and turned the jinchuuriki and saw that Gaara's hands were swinging in his direction. "Sand shuriken!" Gaara exclaimed, as hundreds of small globs of sand left him and headed in Sasuke's direction.

He dived behind the trunk of the tree and saw the raw destructive force from the jutsu. Entire branches were torn from the trees and even a few holes were in the trunk he was hiding behind. "Thanks for the heads up Naruto," Sasuke said quietly.

Naruto said quietly, from next to him, "You're welcome." He then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Looking rather pissed the monster of the desert is looking for his prey," Naruto said from behind another tree.

"Uchiha! I thought you would prove my existence, but you fall very short of my expectations. Come at me with all you have and prove my existence," Gaara said boldly.

Sasuke was breathing hard and couldn't feel his left arm, but then saw Naruto standing next to him, as if to ask a question, but he said nothing. "What no commentary on how I'm going to lose and you're going to win?" he asked sarcastically.

Naruto wagged his finger, as if to say, 'No, not just yet.'

"Fine, I'll deal with him and I'll tell them all how you coward before someone so strong," Sasuke said arrogantly, but was barely able to stand.

"Are you asking me to take over this fight? You do know that Kakashi-teme told me to bring you back, right?" Naruto asked playfully.

"And what does that have to do with what is going on now, dobe?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"First if you're worn out, it will be easier to carry your idiotic ass back. Second, you have NO clue what you're dealing with," Naruto explained authoritatively.

Sasuke glared at Naruto, but then said, "Yeah right. You know what is going on with him."

Naruto chuckled and pointed at Gaara, who seemed really pissed. "Uchiha, you are weak and I will enjoy crushing your bones into meal," Gaara said angrily. He looked like his upper body was covered with sand making it look like a tanuuki, along with the wagging tail. He then turned to where the two were and smiled wide and said, "I found you… my prey!"

Sasuke's eyes went wide when Naruto turned into a puff of smoke. 'Dang, I was hoping that he could help me with this,' ht thought to himself, as he then jumped away from another 'Sand shuriken' jutsu.

"And round three begins. Gaara starts us off with a 'Sand shuriken' jutsu, and I must say that it is quite devastating. Wind style: Great breakthrough!" Naruto proclaimed, as he used his Wind jutsu to block Gaara's 'Sand shuriken'. He then continued, "Hey, I thought you were fighting against teme, but if you want to get me involved, then fine."

"Naruto don't he will kill you, I can't beat him, so you can't," Sasuke said wearily, but the collapsed into Shino's arms.

"Take it easy Uchiha-san. We shall leave it to Naruto-san," Shino said to the weary Uchiha. Both watched Naruto walk out from behind a trunk and stand out in the open with nothing for cover. "Let me get this straight, you think because you have one, you're stronger than me? I didn't do that well in math, but I believe that nine is larger than one," Naruto explained. Gaara's eyes went wide and Shino raised an eyebrow.

"What does he mean, Shino?" Sasuke asked.

"If he wanted us to know he would explain it further," Shino explained.

Naruto sighed and a wave of sorrow filled the area. "I know how you feel. The loneliness is so hard to bear, isn't it?" Naruto asked and Gaara seemed to have been hit by a punch. He then continued, "The hate you for nothing that you did in the beginning, but then they try to force you to change, because they believe that you're something that you're not." Naruto laughed, but it was an empty laugh. "You know… while you're strong. I'm stronger. Do you know why I'm stronger?" Gaara shook his head to the question. Power began to come off of Naruto in waves. He was surrounded by his own chakra and it was visible.

'How can he have so much power?' Sasuke asked himself, as he watched this spectacle in awe.

Shino smiled warmly at the show of power of his friend.

"I have important people to protect and that is what makes me strong. They are precious to me and while I know they can protect themselves most of the time, I know that if needed I can dig deep down and draw upon a strength that will surpass those around me to protect them, even if it means that I have to sacrifice myself. You live for yourself, but do not really care if your life has meaning. You think that killing others who might be powerful, it will make you feel what you think is missing in your heart. You have love etched upon your forehead, but you don't know what it means. 'Live for myself and only myself'. There is no meaning in that existence, it gives you nothing other than the quest to find your next victim," Naruto explained.

While Naruto's blue chakra was peeling off of him, golden chakra was beginning to pour off of Gaara. "I will kill you Uzumaki, and to prove it I will capture this woman!" he exclaimed when he raised his arm and shot his hand at a shadow. Naruto watched in horror, as Haku was pinned to a tree. Gaara then continued, "You will show me your power and one of us will survive. If you win, she will be spared, if not both of you will die."

Naruto panicked and thought, 'No, this is the same thing all over again.' "Let her go! NOW!" he proclaimed, while his features became more feral. "You messed with the wrong fox, tanuuki," Naruto proclaimed.

Gaara smiled and tilted his head as if in wonder. "Show me your power… Uzumaki!" he said playfully in a demonic way.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled and the area was filled with thousands of Naruto. "I'm not going to play with you this time, Gaara!"

Half the clones hid behind the trees while the other half jumped directly at the forming sand tanuuki. "Sand shuriken," Gaara exclaimed and sand based shuriken destroyed the clones wholesale. He then smiled and asked, "Is that all you got, Uzumaki?"

"Hidden Leaf, secret finger jutsu, a thousand years of death," Naruto said, as he pushed a kunai with several paper bombs at the base of Gaara's tail and Gaara slapped Naruto away.

"Is that it, an enema?" Pakun asked in confusion.

Naruto smiled and said, "Boom." The bombs exploded and created a huge explosion.

Naruto was caught by one of his clones, but then wiped some blood from his lip and did several hand seals. "Summoning jutsu," he proclaimed and the area was covered in smoke.

When the smoke cleared a giant toad was standing in the forest looking down upon the damaged tanuuki. **"What do you want, gaki?"** Gamabunta asked.

Naruto pointed at Gaara and said, "He's going to go demon soon and I need you as back up."

"**Shukaku?" **Gamabunta asked and Naruto nodded.

"What did they say?" Sasuke asked.

"You will have to ask them for I will not come near the great Gamabunta during a fight," Shino said, but also seemed to be irritated. Sasuke saw Shino watching the tree where Haku was pinned.

"I will not lose Uzumaki," Gaara exclaimed. He was totally deformed, but them the area around him became filled with sand forming a large body, as large as Gamabunta.

"Can your dagger be infused with chakra?" Naruto asked Gamabunta, who nodded. Naruto then jumped on to the butt of the dagger and waited for Gamabunta to draw it. While he waited he pushed both water and wind chakra into the blade.

When Gamabunta hit Shukaku's arm, unlike in his vision, it sliced cleanly through and the arm dropped to the side. Gamabunta then drew back to make another swipe only to hear Shukaku scream, "Ouch! That hurt damnit. Wind style: Air bullet!" Shukaku drew back his left arm and took a deep breath. He then slammed the hand into his belly.

Naruto was going through hand seals quickly and yelled, "Jump! Wind Style: Great breakthrough!"

Naruto's jutsu while weaker was enough to divert the larger and more powerful wind jutsu.

"Faux sleep jutsu," Gaara said and then collapsed into unconscious bliss.

Naruto shook his head and said, "We need get to him and wake him up, Haku-chan and the others are counting on us. I know we will need to do a dual transformation. Fire off a couple Water bullets and then we can wake the bastard up."

Gamabunta focused his chakra while Naruto did the necessary seals. He also fired off two water bullets. Shukaku had fired off a couple of his own air bullets and when the two jutsu met it became a torrential downpour. Pakun, Sasuke, and Shino watched in awe at the sheer power displayed by the combatants. 'How did he get so powerful?' Sasuke asked himself mentally.

Suddenly Naruto and Gamabunta changed into something that hadn't been seen in about thirteen years, the Kyuubi. The fox grabbed several trees and threw then at Shukaku who fired a Wind bullet at it and destroyed the trees, while obscuring his own vision. The fox bit down into the tanuuki's shoulder and gripped it tightly. The fox suddenly changed back into Gamabunta and Naruto jumped up to where Gaara slept. He charged a Rasengan and slammed it into Gaara's chest. This woke Gaara, but also showed that Naruto was near his limit. Shukaku for his part complained about not getting enough play time.

Naruto got a sense of déjà vu, when both Gaara and he were on trees with Gamabunta's dagger between them. "How are you so strong, Uzumaki?" Gaara asked in halting breaths.

Naruto smiled and said, "Because I needed to save some friends… and that includes you Gaara. I had a reason to fight for, not a goal."

Gamabunta and the dagger disappeared back to the summoning realm, leaving Naruto and Gaara to finish this fight.

"So you feel like your butt has been kicked enough, Gaara?" Naruto asked happily.

"I will not allow you to end my existence," Gaara exclaimed, but then jumped at Naruto.

Naruto being quicker was able to hit Gaara harder than before and then scoop him up, while he landed safely on the tree. He jumped down and set Gaara down on the ground and squatted down. "You're suffering from both chakra exhaustion and chakra poisoning. The fight is over. Like I said before, I understand what it is like to be what we are. The utter loneliness is almost too much to bear, so you find an outlet for it. You became a blood thirty killer more out of necessity than anything else. I became a goof and hid myself behind a mask from others, but it is time for you to become more. I know your siblings care for you, but you have scared them too much to allow them to show it."

Naruto then placed his hand on Gaara's shoulder and saw the fear in his eyes. "Don't hurt me anymore!" he exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I won't. I want to be your friend," Naruto explained, as he slowly helped Gaara to his feet. He then looked around and saw Shino carrying Haku and Sasuke walking wearily beside him. "Hey guys, thanks for rescuing her, I'm sure her husband would be rather pissed if she were hurt. Let's go home."

On the way back to Konoha they picked up Kankuro and met up with some ANBU. Naruto got Ibiki's promise that Gaara and his siblings would be treated right.

--------------

A/N: You know, I don't have much to say this time. I just hope you enjoyed the chapter…


	8. Chapter 8 Happy memories…

Disclaimer: Owner of Naruto… not me… I write this for fun and entertainment.

No lemons, but implied ones… On to the chapter…

Chapter 8 – Happy memories…

Naruto had written his report and handed a copy to Kakashi, not sure what he would do with it, he sent the original to the Hokage via a shadow clone. He was a little angry at Kiba for getting Hinata and himself into trouble. Naruto wasn't sure how to the deal with the situation, but he was sure that he would let the dog boy know his displeasure. He had a meeting with Hiashi at nine in the morning to visit Hinata in the hospital. Then there was the noon observance for the funeral for those who had died during the invasion. He had a chance to look over the list and it was smaller than before, but he was happy at this fact. Konoha would be in a better position than before. He was also happy that the Hokage had survived his encounter with Orochimaru.

Sarutobi said he would have helped him if he hadn't used his 'Sexy technique'. Naruto also had heard about who might and who might not be promoted. His name was on the short list. That being said Naruto was sure that that he might not get the promotion even with his accomplishments. He was a little jaded that the people doing the grading had given him bad marks. They had also said that he wasn't mature enough to lead a squad. He had also found out that it was Kakashi who had put in such marks against him advancing.

He also heard from the ANBU that they would like to put him in an accelerated program if he were made chuunin. This would screw with his plans and make things a lot harder. He had several missions that he wanted to do and felt he had to do. He also had to spend time with Hinata. There would be fallout because of the girl, Tayuya from sound. He had basically violated her and would have to answer for that, if not from the Hokage, more than like from Hinata. He put on his clothes for mourning and then left his apartment for the Hyuuga compound.

Naruto met Hiashi outside the compound with several of the Hyuuga members, both main and cadet branch. "Good morning Hiashi-sama, and honored Hyuuga family," Naruto said loudly and bowed deeply.

To say that the branch members were surprised was an understatement. Naruto showed the whole family respect, not just the head of the family. "And a good morning to you, Uzumaki-san. Shall we be off?" Hiashi asked, but had started walking, not waiting for an answer.

Naruto pulled up alongside of Hiashi and began started a conversation with Hiashi, much to the surprise of those present. "I hope that there weren't many injured during the attempted invasion. I know of only Hinata-chan. Were there others?" he asked politely.

"Yes, there were a few that were injured. Luckily there were no deaths among our clan," Hiashi said in a monotone voice.

"I'm sorry to hear that. We can visit them after we visit Hinata-chan," Naruto said happily.

"That would be nice, Naruto-san," Hiashi replied with a smile on his face.

The group made their way to the hospital with no more said. They quietly entered the hospital, but were blocked by a chuunin who was insistent that Naruto could not enter the facility without an injury. Naruto scowled, pulled out a kunai and cut a deep slice in his hand. "There, I'm injured, now let me pass," Naruto said angrily.

The chuunin frowned, but relented, especially since Hiashi appeared to be getting angry with said chuunin. "Very well, you may pass, but don't bother any of the patients," the chuunin said in an annoyed tone.

After getting a little ways down the hall Hiashi asked, "Do you get that often?"

Naruto sighed and replied, "Not as much anymore, but occasionally."

Hiashi scowled and said, "That will not do. I will speak to the Hokage about this affront to the Hyuuga and yourself Naruto-san."

Naruto waved it off as if it were nothing and said, "I can bet that I won't make chuunin, even after what happened. I even bet that Sasuke won't either, but not for others not trying to elevate him. Neji might have a chance, but Shino didn't even get a chance to show anyone what he was worth."

They came to Hinata's room and knocked. "Come in…" was heard from behind the door.

Naruto immediately recognized both women in the room along with Hinata, Haku and Kikiyo, his resident physician were in the room. All the females were wearing the formal funeral skirts and they bowed at seeing Hiashi. "Hello, Hiashi-sama," Haku and Kikiyo both said in unison.

"Hello father," Hinata said happily.

"Hello, Kikiyo and Momochi-san. We came to pick up my daughter and see the other injured Hyuuga," Hiashi said.

Naruto not being much for formality walked up and hugged Haku and then hugged Hinata, who blushed, but returned the hug. "Hey girls," Naruto said happily. He then asked Hinata quietly, "So should I neuter the dog boy or just give him a lecture?"

Hinata giggled, but said, "I wouldn't want you to soil your hands with such a deed, so give him a lecture and it should be fine."

Naruto looked at her sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry you got hurt…"

Hinata surprised both Naruto and her father by tilting her head and giving him a passionate kiss. "It's alright Naruto-kun."

Hiashi cleared his throat and then asked, "I'm glad you're keeping this under wraps, but what about Momochi-san?"

Haku giggled and then said, "I've known about them for quite awhile, Hiashi-sama. Who do you think has been working with her on her water manipulation?"

Hiashi's eyes opened wide in surprise, but he then got himself under control, bowed and said, "I am in your debt Momochi-san."

Haku bowed in return and nodded her acceptance of his honor being served. The three left the room to visit the other Hyuuga who were still in the hospital. They were all surprised to have a visit from the Head of the clan, the heir, the village prankster and the wife of a new clan in Konoha. The group cheered up the injured, but then headed to the Hokage tower to join the funeral proceeding. Everyone took their place upon the top of the Hokage tower, but they were expected to show their respects.

Sarutobi sighed and then started, "We are here to mourn those who gave their lives to protect those of this village and the 'Will of Fire' that burns in us all. We wish to offer thanks to those who gave their lives, so that we might live. We ask that we have a moment of silence to honor these heroes who shall not be returning to us."

He bowed his head, as did the all those present. After several minutes people lined up and placed flowers on the table set there to honor the dead. It began to rain when the first flower was placed. It continued to rain until everyone who wanted to, had placed a flower. It was as if the sky also mourned those who had passed away.

"So, Sasuke-kun… do you think that Naruto will get promoted, like you will? I mean you did beat that Gaara guy, right?" Sakura asked with trepidation, while Naruto and Kakashi were having a rock-paper-scissors fight.

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed much to Kakashi's annoyance at losing to the blonde yet again.

"No, he beat Gaara and I don't know how he did it. He's more than we know…" Sasuke said in a faraway tone.

"No way, he's just a loser and couldn't be as good as you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said with as much empathy as she could muster.

"Bet I can't do the Chidori, heck I bet you couldn't teach me!" Naruto proclaimed loudly.

Kakashi smiled and said, "First you need to push chakra to your hand."

Naruto smirked, but both Kakashi and Sasuke saw it. He grabbed his right arm at the elbow and began to push wind chakra into his hand. The chakra caused a breeze that forced Sakura to hold down her skirt or show her intimates. Naruto showed immense concentration and was sweating. A sliver of wind chakra began to extend from his hand, but quickly dissipated.

Kakashi and Sasuke looked on in awe. Naruto had used the wrong chakra type, but was getting the idea of how the Chidori was formed. "Naruto, you need to use Lightning chakra for a Chidori," Kakashi explained.

Naruto smiled sheepishly and then said, "Oh, sorry, can't do that type of chakra. Let's see, Wind, check, Water, check, Earth, check, Ice, and Wood, maybe…"

Kakashi laughed at Naruto and said, "You would have to have a bloodline to do either Wood or Ice jutsu."

Naruto again scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and laughed sheepishly.

Sakura asked in a dejected tone, "Yeah, I guess you're right, but how could he actually beat that monster Gaara?"

Sasuke shook his head, but then saw Naruto walking towards them. He then noticed Hinata, Kiba and Shino fall in behind Naruto, as he passed his team. Sasuke wondered how the 'Dead Last' of the class was able to garner such support from the heirs of three clans. "So Sakura, Sasuke, training tomorrow at nine," Kakashi said before he left in a puff of smoke.

Naruto turned and said, "Guess we need to be there around eleven or twelve…"

Sakura giggled at the jibe pointed at their sensei.

------------------

Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji and Jiraiya were in the Hokage's office later in the day. Jiraiya sat lazily in the windowsill, while the genin all stood before the Hokage. He took a long drag on his pipe and then blew it out before he spoke. "I'm impressed by all three of you. I have some good news and some bad news. For you genin Nara, I'm sure you'll think it is bad news." Hiruzen let out a slight chuckle, but continued, "Nara Shikamaru, it is the finding of the advisory board and myself that you be promoted to chuunin, congratulations. Hyuuga Neji, it is also the finding of the advisory board, but not myself that you be made chuunin, so you are thusly promoted to chuunin, congratulations. Uzumaki Naruto…"

Naruto chuckled at this point. Even though he saw the downcast look up on the Hokage's face. "I didn't get it right?" he asked, without trepidation.

Hiruzen nodded and then said in a sad tone, "It is with great sadness that I have to inform you Uzumaki Naruto that you did not make chuunin. The panel was split, but I did vote for you to be promoted. I still argue with at least a single review that went against you."

"Kakashi… right?" he asked without emotion.

Hiruzen nodded and said, "I argued that Kakashi shouldn't be able to vote because of his tardiness. The panel also voted to give Sasuke a promotion, but I blocked it because he was tardy. Please do not spread this around, or else you will be doing D-ranked missions for the rest of your miserable lives, understood?"

All three nodded their understanding of said order.

"So do I get him to go find her?" Jiraiya asked, impatiently.

Hiruzen chuckled, but nodded and said, "Yes and you can take Naruto with you to find my wayward student. I'm getting too old for this job. Naruto, thank you for your save in the battle, I know it was only shadow clones, but they were an immense help. You were able to defeat a Sannin, with a rudimentary jutsu. I commend you."

Naruto began to laugh and said, "No offense guys, but the two losers get promoted, and the guy who beats the hard opponents gets shafted. The story of my life…"

Sarutobi chuckled along with the blonde while enduring glares from the recently promoted chuunin. "You are dismissed, other than Naruto and Jiraiya," he said. The chuunin bowed and left the room. He waited for the door to close before engaging a seal and then he spoke, "My advisors tell me to keep you here, so as to better keep an eye on you."

"Nope, won't work," Naruto said point blank.

"What do your predictions tell you, huh, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked.

"They tell me that Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame will both come to the village looking to capture me. So the safest place for me is with the pervert," Naruto said playfully, while pointing his thumb at Jiraiya. He noticed a scowl and then added, "Sorry, super pervert." This livened up Jiraiya.

"Be that as it may, how do you propose we deal with the two of them?" Hiruzen asked pointedly.

"I guess I'll wing it. Do you want them captured, killed or just scared?" Naruto asked with a devious grin on his face.

"I don't think your 'Sexy jutsu' will faze either one of them. Itachi is too much of a professional and Kisame is a monster," Sarutobi explained.

"So can I dig into some village secrets?" Naruto asked.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and asked, "What secret do you want to dig into?"

"Was it the village elders who ordered Itachi to kill his clan? Not that I would question it, but I just want to know. It would be a good bargaining chip if when dealing with Itachi," Naruto explained.

Sarutobi sighed heavily, but said, "I tried, but to no avail in keeping the peace with the Uchiha clan. It came to near rebellion and it would have destroyed the village either way. If the Uchiha would have won, you would be a tool for them or dead. If they lost, they would have been sentenced to death or worse, breeding and reeducation programs. That is if the village would survive attacks from other villages after the civil war was over."

"So let me get this straight. The elders ordered Itachi to kill all the Uchiha, but left teme off his list?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"He must have been holding something over their heads to protect Sasuke," Sarutobi replied.

"But how can that be?" Jiraiya asked.

"The total annihilation of a clan is quite a feat and I don't believe that he did it alone. The hatred that the clan had started during the reign of the Second, to keep them in line, so to speak, we put the clan in a compound on the edge of the village. It was the Second's idea, not mine. They in turn were given the police force to run. Several things contributed to some of the animosity. The Senju were more appreciated than the Uchiha, but both were cobbled together with the ability to deal with Bijuu. A fully developed Sharingan can give the user some control over the Bijuu. After the fight between Madara and Hashirama at the Valley of the End with the Kyuubi, it was set in the minds of the villagers that the Uchiha had an unfair control of the Kyuubi. Thus you should be careful using your power around Sasuke when he has gotten strong enough he might be able to control your beast.

"Also, you might want to learn how to control the Rasengan better. I saw that you could create one, but it took you a clone to do it and it took two tries at that," Sarutobi explained.

"Yeah, I know, but I'm still working on that jutsu, it's been only two weeks since I started training. And Shadow clones help with dividing the load on the creation side," Naruto explained.

"I would also like to ask you about a young kunoichi," Hiruzen said out of the blue.

"And which one would that be?" Naruto asked playfully.

"Hyuuga Hinata, it appears that she is becoming quite strong and we have you to thank for that. Why her, and not the love of your life Sakura?" Hiruzen asked.

Naruto sighed and then said pointedly, "My choices, my decision. We went over this before, jiji."

"But you fawned over Sakura for all those years," the Hokage said questioningly.

"Hinata holds a special place for me. Sakura is a good friend and I wanted to keep someone at a distance so that they wouldn't be hurt by the villagers for being chased by me. Now that the villagers are more accepting of me, it really doesn't matter. I would only want to keep that secret from Akatsuki," Naruto explained. He then turned to his sensei and asked, "So we headed out or what? If so I want to make a stop at the Hyuuga residence before we go."

Jiraiya sighed and nodded, while saying, "You have an hour to get ready, but be at the gates by then."

Naruto nodded and jumped out the window and ran towards the Hyuuga estate.

Jiraiya and Hiruzen chuckled at the boy's antics. "You know I would like for someone to use the door once in a while," Hiruzen said sarcastically.

"What do you mean sensei? The chuunin you promoted left via the door, so why are you satisfied with that?" Jiraiya asked jokingly.

Both men began to laugh until the door opened and the three elders entered the room. Both jovial men's faces soured.

* * *

Naruto quickly bowed and passed the usual guards while saying, "Can't talk have to find Hinata-chan."

Both guards laughed lightly at the antics and wondered what the boy was up too.

Naruto knocked on Hiashi's office and entered when he heard a voice say, "Enter."

Naruto entered and bowed deeply. He then asked, "Can I see Hinata-chan?"

Hiashi looked up and raised an eyebrow. He looked at the boy and then nodded. "She is in her room resting. Do not get her too riled up and aggravate her injuries," he explained to the boy.

"I'll try not to. I'm headed out to find Tsunade and bring her back, but don't tell anyone," Naruto said, but made a gesture for Hiashi to keep quiet and left the office, as if he were trying to hide his presence. Hiashi chuckled at the boy's antics and knew when the boy came to live with them permanently it would never be boring.

* * *

Naruto crept down the hallway and ducked behind a table, apparently missed by a couple Hyuuga elders that passed him and didn't even seem to notice him. He continued down the hallway until he found his objective. He quietly knocked on the door and entered when he heard, "Come in."

He quickly entered and closed the door behind him. He turned to see a smiling Hinata. His face turned from lightly happy to sad. She noticed the difference and asked, "What's wrong Naruto-kun?"

Naruto walked over to her bed and then knelt on the floor. "Please forgive me Hinata-chan," he said apologetically.

"What do I have to forgive you for, Naruto-kun?" she asked in a confused tone.

Naruto sat up and sighed heavily. "There are two things. First I'm going to be gone for a month or so finding Baachan," he explained, but she noticed the hesitancy in his demure.

"We knew about that and I figure that you're headed out today for that right?" she asked and he nodded his reply. She then gave him a stern look and asked, "And?"

He quickly bent again at the waist and said quickly, "I fondled another woman… well my clone did it, but it was to save the Hokage and well… she seemed to like it…"

She looked down at him in surprise and could see his embarrassment, because his ears were bright red in contrast to his blonde hair. She shifted so her she was sitting on the bed, but facing Naruto. An evil grin crossed her face. "You fondled another woman? And just how did you do that?" she asked menacingly.

Naruto raised himself to sitting, but did not raise his head and look her in the eyes. "Well…" he answered tentatively.

She squinted and puckered her lips and then said, "Uzumaki Naruto, you will now demonstrate on me what you did to this woman before I even think about forgiving you."

Naruto looked up at her in surprise and saw that she was serious. He wasn't sure what to do now. He could either, run and possibly ruin the relationship or he could proceed and either deepen it or send it spiraling down. He knew that she loved him, but he was still new to this relationship thing. He sighed heavily and stood up. He made up his mind and said, "You'll need to stand for me to demonstrate properly."

She smiled wryly and stood. She then moved to the door and locked it. He watched in awe as the formerly timid girl moved back to the bed and stood there waiting to be groped by her boyfriend. Naruto walked closer and smiled when he saw her bite her lip. He then moved his hands to her abdomen and then gently guided his hands under her nightshirt. He found that she had several bandages under there, so he gently caressed her stomach. He watched, as her eyes fluttered and she put her fingernail in her mouth and bit onto the nail. He continued this for a minute or two and then moved his hands up to cup her breasts that were under a loose chest wrap. She gasped when he did this and closed her eyes. He then said quietly, "I didn't go below her shirt…"

"Shut up and continue with your demonstration," Hinata said in a near moan.

He continued to kneed her left breast, but moved his hand slowly down to her stomach. His hand stopped at the hem of her pajama bottoms. "Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly.

She nodded her head, but gasped when his hand passed beneath the hem and traveled down into her hair. She moaned loudly at this point. He raised an eyebrow, but continued, since he found that she was missing undergarments. His hand caressed her lower lips and she pulled him into her chest. His finger parted her lips and she said, "I want you now Uzumaki…" He looked up and saw a feral grin on her face and an open top. She grabbed his shirt and pulled it quickly over his head. She then grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him upon the bed, while pulling off his pants in one stoke. Naruto looked on in horror and fascination at the once timid and quite girl who now appeared to want to take both of their virginity.

-------------------

Hiashi listened to everything that had transpired in the room. He smiled wryly and thought, 'Everything is going according to plan. We now have him hook, line and sinker.' He walked off and shooed away any passersby. He also left orders to the guards to not allow anyone into that wing until Uzumaki-san left.

-------------------

Jiraiya was sitting at the gate when Naruto staggered up to him with a 'shit faced' grin on his face. Jiraiya looked down at the boy and asked, "So did you get lucky?"

The grin never left his face, but he said, "I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

Jiraiya giggled perversely, but then said, "Let's get out of here."

Jiraiya led the boy along the road while Naruto continued to be on cloud nine, with memories of what happened just minutes before.

* * *

Hinata smiled contently on her bed, her binding lying on the floor along with her pajamas. While they hadn't had sex, she was quite happy with how far they had gone. His scent lingered in the air along with several wet spots on her bed. Had he had the time it might have gone farther, but she was content in the knowledge that he was hers and only hers. She figured out that he was distracting the Sound girl and had learned a 'neat' new trick that he could use on her. She had been driven nearly mad by his ministrations. She sighed and again smelled the aroma in the air. She liked it, but also knew that soon it would bother others if they were to enter the room. She jumped when she heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked timidly.

"Hinata-chan, I have a couple questions for you, may I come in?" the voice of her father asked.

She paled at this and quickly covered the soiled sheets and opened the window. She quickly dressed in her pajamas and kicked her bindings under her bed. Hoping that this would be enough to not alert her father to what had occurred in the room.

She slid the door open and allowed her father entry. He then proceeded to the chair at the desk and sat down.

"According to Hyuuga law, the act of sex is a binding marriage contract," Hiashi explained.

Hinata paled at this statement, but wasn't sure how to look at it since her father was only making a statement, but he didn't do that without cause. She nodded her knowledge of the law.

"Even for those who are underage, but are active shinobi. Otherwise it would be fourteen, before this law would be in effect," he again explained. He then looked at her and asked, "So is he still your boyfriend or is he your husband?"

She felt light headed, but knew that she needed to answer. "He… he is my boyfriend…" she answered in stuttering stops and starts.

"So the smell is just you and him having… 'fun'?" he asked pointedly.

She nodded, as darkness slowly crept into her vision.

Hiashi smirked and said, "Very good, keep up the good work, Hinata. I look forward to the day that I can call Naruto-san, my son-in-law." His smirk turned into a full blown chuckle when she fell back onto the bed unconscious.

--------------

A/N: I know some of you are finding this an interesting story, I'm glad. I hope you enjoy the NaruHina moments in this chapter. Of course I'm going to continue to poke fun at Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and anybody else I can think of. To be truthful this is my poke fun at cannon story and hope you have as much fun reading as I do writing this silly stuff.

Leaf Ranger: Not sure if I will add anyone to the pairing. Still have to have more fun with the girls and still give Hinata more fainting spells. Tayuya isn't on my list for possible harem, yet, but she sure is fun for her very loose mouth…

Zrodeathwing: Yes, Sasuke was rather disturbing wasn't he? And no I don't do Yaoi.

Dragon Man 180: Sorry, was lost in thought… you were saying? Sorry couldn't resist, might cover the prisoners more thoroughly next chapter, or poke fun at Tsunade, since Orochimaru isn't seeking her out.

Lalaith Quetzalli: Yes I know there are several ways that the relationship between Zabuza and Haku can go, I just chose this one for this story. And they will be recurring characters, yippie…


	9. Chapter 9 The search for Tsunade…

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Sorry for the long time in between updates, but I'm working on it. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 9 – The search for Tsunade…

Naruto continued to work on the Rasengan, while a clone worked on Water manipulation and another worked on Earth manipulation. He would concentrate to the point of not paying attention to Jiraiya, who was at this point was asking questions, since they were about a day outside of Konoha. Naruto then said, "Tanzaku-gai is where we will find her, but it will take a couple weeks and Oro-teme more than likely will be there to either kill her or just to have her heal the wounds from my wind jutsu, since I laced it with Kyuubi chakra, so he more than likely is suffering from chakra poisoning."

"Are you sure?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto nodded and then moved to a shrine on the side of the road and bowed at the shrine on the hill with about a dozen steps up to it and a couple large bells with tassels hanging from them. "So do I look like him?" Naruto asked.

"Like who?" Jiraiya asked.

"Like my father, the Fourth Hokage," Naruto replied when he straightened. He smiled and jingled the bells, but made sure not to pull them down like he did in the dream.

"How the hell do you know that?" Jiraiya asked, but then answered his own question, "The visions?"

Naruto nodded and continued to play with the bells happily. "You got it Ero-sennin," Naruto replied happily.

Jiraiya got serious and said, "I'll answer if you tell me how far your visions go into the future."

Naruto turned, shrugged and replied, "About three or four years. You know that I fought Uchiha Madara and Sasuke and I think I died against them both, but I got the vision and figure I will keep close to the vision so that I can make sure that I affect things my way."

Jiraiya smirked and asked, "Like what?"

Naruto chuckled and replied, "That isn't fair, since I answered your question. Now answer mine."

Jiraiya chuckled and said, "Yeah, you got his hair color and some of his looks, but your attitude is all your mother's."

Naruto sighed and said, "Yeah, from the vision I saw her and she helped me get control of the Kyuubi." Naruto then got an idea and asked, "Hey Ero-sennin… do you think I could do the chakra chains like my mother?"

Jiraiya scratched his chin and thought for a minute. He then replied, "You might, but it is sort of like a bloodline and your chakra needs to be like hers… You know when we get back… We will ask the old man if there are any clan scrolls left for you to study."

Naruto then sighed and sat next to the older shinobi. He got a faraway look in his eyes and said, "I think I love Hinata-chan, but I know that I have to save a few more girls in my life, but am afraid that they will be the same as Hinata-chan."

Jiraiya chuckled and put a reassuring hand on Naruto's shoulder. He then asked, "What's troubling my student?"

Naruto sighed contently and replied, "Well, there's Isaribi, who a scientist who worked for Orochimaru experimented on her and she can transform nearly into a sea monster. Then there is Kazehana Koyuki, better known as Fujikaze Yukie. She's the rightful daimyo of the Land of Snow. Then there's Haruna the daughter and soon to be daimyo of the Land of Vegetables. Kurama Yakumo, the heir to the Kurama clan… Shion, the priestess of Demon country… Fuuma Sasame of the Fuuma clan in Rice Field country… Amaru, apprentice doctor and student to Shinno of Sky Country…"

Jiraiya quickly interrupted and said, "I get it, you've got a lot of women to save, but where are you going to have the time for them along with the Hyuuga heiress?"

Naruto shrugged and replied, "She is okay with a couple of girls sharing me, but she is sure that there will be a limit, but what I can't understand is why she was drooling and talking about Shadow clones…"

Jiraiya looked at the boy, dumbfounded. He had a girl who would share him and to top it off she was thinking about how she could have him use Shadow clones. This was better than any story he could come up with. He then thought, 'Hey, wait… I could write a story about him and change a few of the characters' names and bingo new best seller.'

He was suddenly woken by a sudden hit to the head. He looked up and saw an angry Naruto who exclaimed, "You will and I repeat will not write about me and the girls who I date and eventually fall in love with! Do I make myself clear? Or I will tell Tsunade that I have a bunch of arranged marriages and that you want to write about it."

Jiraiya paled and put his hands up in defense. He then exclaimed, "You win. The Hyuuga girl would have been enough of a threat, but add her… jeez, you want to kill me don't you?"

Naruto chuckled, but then moved back to the road and they both headed on to their next location.

xxxxXXXxxxx

Since Tsunade was known to frequent gambling establishments Naruto hit most of them, collecting a tidy sum. Naruto and Jiraiya discussed how Naruto would approach her and if he should reveal the information that he had. He knew that she was still hurting even after all those years and even the secret birth of a child. Naruto had eventually figured out that it was Jiraiya who was the father, but it took some real wrangling to get it out of him that he actually slept with Tsunade. Naruto only teased him once at being his 'grandpa' and was done with it, since he really didn't want any more problems to deal with. Being the son of the Fourth Hokage was trouble enough, especially if it got out.

They spent the next several weeks working on his Earth and Water affinities, while perfecting the Rasengan with only one hand. Naruto also let slip more information about Akatsuki to Jiraiya, but he had little worry about it, since he would be battling them soon. They had met up with Itachi and Kisame, but the meeting was kind of funny, since Naruto had warned Jiraiya about what was had happened before.

(Flashback)…

Naruto was practicing with some water in a glass while his clones worked on certain parts of the Rasengan. He heard a knock at the door and said, "Sorry not in the mood for Red-eyed sushi."

He opened the door and smiled at Itachi and Kisame, who said, "Are you sure he's the Kyuubi? He looks like a runt."

Naruto shook his head and said, "Look Red-eye, Sushi, I really don't want to play with you guys today. I know Itachi is permanently on the rag and that is a real downer, I know. I think it's an Uchiha thing."

Kisame laughed at this, but Itachi scowled and said, "Naruto-kun, you will come with us."

Naruto shook his head and said, "Nah, I'll wait a couple years for Pain to come around, since he's stronger than you guys. I know your sword will eat chakra, but it is a glutton and will eat more than it should. Here Samehada." Naruto pointed his hand at Kisame and a red claw of chakra flowed out of his hand and towards Kisame. It moved around the man and touched the sword. The red chakra began to flow and Kisame got worried, since the sword began to get giddy as best as he could describe it.

Itachi glared at the boy and said, "That is enough Naruto-kun. You will come with us."

Naruto pouted and said, "But I'm still a virgin! I want to get laid!"

This shocked Itachi and Kisame who fell over backwards while laughing his ass off. Suddenly the good mood was broken and Naruto said quietly, "And to ruin the mood, emo brother two appears on scene, big brother stops little brother's jutsu by blowing out the next room and then breaks his wrist, while putting a nasty genjutsu on him."

Sasuke yelled at Itachi and produced a Chidori. He then ran at Itachi who caught his arm and diverted the jutsu into the wall. This destroyed the room where the jutsu had been diverted too, all the way out to the street. Itachi then broke Sasuke's wrist and pummeled him the far wall.

Naruto then said, "They have a real nice relationship, but they must learn that hate will only destroy them both. Hey Itachi, I hope you want him to destroy Konoha and everyone in it and join Madara, since what you're doing is just that. He is a perfect vessel for hate and it will consume him. He will not redeem the Uchiha clan and he will not recreate the clan. He can't even bag a willing girl, let alone a strong girl. He will send it into the annals of history as an evil clan that used those around them to destroy all that they had. Your sacrifice will mean nothing."

Kisame looked between the blonde and Itachi in confusion and asked, "What is he talking about?"

"Just collect the jinchuuriki," Itachi angrily ordered.

Kisame turned to Naruto and sighed. He then said, "Sorry about this kid, but it's a job."

Naruto shrugged and replied, "I understand, but you should understand that I won't go easily, since I don't want to die a virgin!"

Kisame laughed and brought his sword up, but it impaled itself in the ceiling. He looked up and then suddenly felt an impact on his gut, sending him into the wall. Kisame pulled himself out of the wall and said, "You've got spunk and you're not running, so I'll shave your arms off."

Naruto then ran through several hand seals and said, "Summoning Jutsu."

Kisame scowled and forced his sword down through the roof and onto where he believed Naruto to be, since the area was filled with smoke. Samehada was stopped about where the kids head would be, but it felt like he had hit metal. The smoke cleared and he heard, "Air bullet!"

He attempted to dodge, but was too close, luckily for Kisame, Samehada had pulled some of the chakra from the jutsu and it only hurt a little, but also pushed him back into the wall yet again. He saw a toad with armguards in front of Naruto. Suddenly the walls changed and appeared to be an internal organ. Naruto then said, "You better run boys, or you'll be eaten by the big bad toads."

Kisame had a bad feeling and ran down the hallway and grabbed Itachi as he went. There was an explosion and Naruto said, "Go seal up the Amaterasu and then watch out for Gai-sensei attempting to attack with his 'Dynamic Entry'."

Jiraiya nodded to the suggestions and was able to duck under Gai's attack.

(End Flashback)…

Naruto chuckled at the memory. He continued to work on his chakra control, while a clone worked on the Rasengan. He had stretched the chakra pathways in his arms enough for the clones not to need him to work on that part. He could do it, but with a clone and under a second to create it. He knew that both Water and Wind added destructive damage to the technique, but wasn't sure if Earth or Ice could also. He had a clone working on Wood, while another worked on Ice. Naruto knew that they would meet up with Tsunade soon and since he was stronger he wasn't sure if what he had done in the dream would work for her now.

He knew that he had hurt the Sannin, but not as much as Sarutobi did in his dream. He sighed, but perked up when like déjà vu when he saw people running and claiming a monster had attacked the castle. 'Well he more than likely needs her for something,' he thought to himself.

Naruto and Jiraiya found Tsunade and Shizune at the exact bar as in the dream. He then decided to go with the dream version and have Jiraiya play along with him. The next couple hours played out like the dream and Naruto got her to bet against him being able to make a full Rasengan. Little did she know that he was playing her. The next week showed him continuing to work on getting the Rasengan working with only one hand. Eventually he fought Kabuto, much more easily than before, but also helped out with summoning Gamaken to help out in fighting Manda, Orochimaru and Kabuto. Naruto wasn't as near death this time, but Kabuto had done some serious damage to him, but he did a real number on both the Sannin and his accomplice. He had a partial Rasenshuriken and hit Kabuto and sent him into Orochimaru. They were both injured badly. Naruto had done damage to his own arm like he did when he fought again Kakuzu

Naruto took a couple of days to recover from the damage, but also was happy that he had damaged Orochimaru. Kabuto was also more out of the picture than he had first thought, since Naruto had put some Wind chakra into the Rasengans that he had hit both men with. He knew what the damage would and could do to people. While he figured that Kabuto would more than likely recover, Orochimaru would lose the use of his arms soon, while Naruto only broke his right arm. After Tsunade scanned the damage to Naruto, she forbid him to use a Wind based Rasengan again. He retorted that he knew the possibilities of the damage and ending the fight with the Orochimaru was more important that his being able to do jutsu for a week or so, but he agreed that until he could better control it, such as after Sage training he would refrain from making his Rasengans with more than a small amount of Wind chakra in combat, since it took him and two clones to do the Rasenshuriken. Tsunade did argue that she had been played by Naruto who countered that it was no different than when she was doing her regular gambling. She had to concede his point though.

Naruto had set straight the pair that wanted to get to Tsunade about her debts and also met boss Jirobu. During the trip back Tsunade asked, "Since you can do elemental jutsu and your skills are above a genin… why are you still a genin?"

Naruto smirked and replied, "My sensei, not the super pervert here, in his enlightened wisdom talked the examiners out of promoting me, but hey, what can you do when you're a jinchuuriki and they are out to get you. Also GRANDMA, I would like to talk to you about Senju business."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and asked, "What about my clan's business?"

Naruto smirked and asked in return, "Remember the child you gave up during the war?"

Tsunade nodded and replied, "Yeah and I never heard from him again. I would have liked to have met him, but sensei wouldn't tell me who got him."

Naruto began to snicker and said, "Oh you've met him and his son. Heck he married back into one of the clans that you're a part of."

Tsunade looked at him in confusion and wonder. "Who was he and how do you know about him?" she asked longingly.

"Well… GRANDMA…" Naruto said with a smirk.

"Why the hell do you keep calling me that, gaki?" Tsunade asked angrily.

Naruto took a thinking pose and said, "Well there were some tests done and we found who your son was and that you have a GRANDSON." Tsunade began to wonder why he kept emphasizing some words, but then it hit her. She got a look of having an epiphany and Naruto said happily, "The First's wife was Uzumaki Mito, my mother was Uzumaki Kushina. Do you know who she married?"

Tsunade shook her head and replied, "That brat? No, she was a tomboy, but never knew who she married."

Naruto then snickered and said, "You son, Namikaze Minato was my father and your son, thus making you… my…"

Tsunade sighed and said, "Your GRANDMOHTER. Jeez, why do you have to draw it out?"

"Being the third jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko has a way of making me a troublemaker. It didn't help that I was despised and wanted to get even with those who wronged me. I'm not really vindictive, but Kikiyo-sensei helped with the testing and made sure to keep it secret. I think we should keep it that way," Naruto explained.

Tsunade nodded and then wrapped Naruto into a hug. She then smiled and asked, "So how do you want to deal with our relationship?"

Naruto shrugged and said, "I've been doing things on my own for years and not really sure how others do it, but I think we'll manage. Oh and I'm dating the Hyuuga heir." Naruto then blushed at the memory of being with Hinata before he left Konoha.

Tsunade smirked and asked, "You haven't had sex with her yet, have you?"

Naruto blushed and replied, "Fallatio isn't considered marital sex is it?"

Tsunade blushed and replied, "No, but doing such a thing at a young age…"

Naruto blushed and said, "We're thirteen and shinobi, so we're adults in the eyes of the village."

Tsunade took a thinking pose and said, "Yes, but I don't want any great-grandchildren anytime soon. I'm still young." Naruto chuckled and Tsunade glared at him. "You have something to say?"

Naruto put his hands up in a defensive posture and replied, "No… nothing at all. So are you taking the role of Hokage from the old man?"

Tsunade nodded and replied, "My grandfather and grand-uncle were Hokage and you want to be Hokage, so someone has to make sure that the village at least lasts until you can become the Hokage. Now stop using your broken arm to train."

Naruto sighed and dropped the leaf out of his right hand. Shizune ran over and ran a diagnostic on his arm and sighed in relief. "He is healing fine, but remember Naruto-kun, anyone else would have lost the use of that arm from that jutsu," she explained.

Naruto nodded and said, "You remember the stories of Uchiha Madara and gramps?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and replied, "If you're referring to the fight between my grandfather and Madara then yes I do."

Naruto then said, "What if I told you that Madara survived and is after the Bijuu?"

Tsunade laughed and replied, "I would say that you're crazy."

"You know that the Kyuubi can see the future, not necessarily avoid it, but it can see the future?" Naruto asked in a dejected tone.

Tsunade's face became pale and she said, "Is that why grandma kept on talking about my grandson being the savior of the world. This kept her happy." She then looked directly at Naruto and asked, "Have you had visions?"

Naruto shrugged and replied, "How do you think that I was able find you and sort of beat Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame? Hyuuga Neji, Orochimaru? The list goes on and on. I was also able to save a friend and she is in the village with us. She is helping me train, since I have a bloodline expansion with wood and Ice as my sub-elements."

Tsunade smiled and said, "So you have grandpa's abilities?"

Naruto shrugged and replied, "I can't control Kyuubi, yet, but am working on it."

Tsunade again hugged him and smiled warmly at the blonde in her arms. She then smirked and said, "I'm going to adopt you and then you'll have to listen to me and you'll be in the Senju clan and have the protections of the clan."

Naruto's jaw dropped and he looked at the woman in awe. He asked tentatively, "You mean it, really?"

Tsunade nodded and replied, "Yes, this way it distracts from the actual link and makes a link with us."

Naruto jumped up and hugged the woman for all he was worth. The rest of the trip was spent happily and they talked about what they were going to do when they got back. Naruto continued to train, even with a broken arm. At least it wasn't as bad as it was in the vision.

He was happy.

xxxxXXXxxxx

A/N: I know it was short and I didn't go into detail with the Sannin battle, but that like the VOE battle has been done and I really didn't want to break it into two chapter and I have ideas on where I'm going to go with this.


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